-NRLF 


ttia, 


No. 


ivision 


Range. 


Received^ 


GREAT    TEACHER 


CHARACTERISTICS 


LORD'S    MINISTRY: 

<&»! 

BY    THE 

REV.    JOHN    HARRIS. 


WITH   AN  INTRODUCTORY   ESSAY, 

BY   HEMAN    HUMP  HREY,  D,  D. 

President  of  Amherst  College. 


THIRD     EDITION. 


AMHERST: 

J.    S.    b    C.    ADAMS, 

1837. 


Entered,  according  to  the  act  of  Congress,  in  the  year 

1835,  by  J.  S.  &  C.  Adams,  in  the 
Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  Massachusetts. 


J.  S.  &  C.  Adams,  Printers. 


CONTENTS. 


Introduction  to  the  American  Edition, 
Preface,  ; 


ESSAY    I. 

THE  AUTHORITY  OF  OUR  LORD'S  TEACHING^ 

'  He  spake  as  one  having  authority.' 

A  Divine  Teacher  needed  —  Desired—  Might  have  been 
expected  —  Was  predicted  —  His  advent  in  the  person  of 
Christ  —  His  lowly  condition  —  Herald  —  Installation  to 
office—  Subject  proposed—  A  very  small  portion  of  his 
discourses  recorded-Scope  of  his  teaching-First  char- 
acteristic, authority.  I.  Authority  of  goodness-Invi- 
tations —  Beatitudes.  II.  Authority  of  greatness  — 
Claims  universal  audience  —  Superiority  to  Jonah,  Sol- 
omon, and  all  the  great,  names  of  the  Jewish  Church  — 
Supremacy—  Central  object  of  the  judgment  day  — 
Impress  his  'name  on  every  thing—  Speaks  of  all 
things  awful  and  sublime,  calmly,  like  one  familiar 
with  them  —  Teaching,  declarative  and  dogmatic. 
III.  Authority  of  solemnity  —  His  peculiar  formula  — 
His  denunciations  of  woe.  IV.  Legislative  authority 

—  Revises  the  Mosaic  code—  Assorts  his  superiority  to 
law—  Repeals  existing  economy  —  Controls  laws  of  na- 
ture himself,  and  confers  the  power  on  others  —  '  I  say 
unto  you,'  —  dis  new  commandment—  Not  only  enacts 
laws,  but  ensures  obedience—  Forgives  sin—  Rpposed 
on    his    own    personal    authority—  Conclusion  —  His 
teaching  exempt  from  all  supposable  circumstances 
unfavorable  to  authoritative  teaching  —  Taught  with 
the  perfect  conviction  of  the  truth  of  his  doctrine  — 
His  example  enforced  it  —  Cordial  sympathy  with  it  — 
Knew  the  ultimate  principles  on  which  his  doctrines 
rested  —  And  the  supreme  value  of  the  truth  he  taught 

—  And  the  purity  of  his  own  motives  —  And  the  ulti- 
mate triumph   of  his  doctrine  —  All  this  must  have 
clothed  his  teaching,  especially  when  contrasted  with 
the  prevailing  mode  of  Jewish  instruction,  with  com- 
manding power  —  His  disciples  should  be  distinguished 
by  reverence  and  docility—  These  dispositions  to  be 

sought  and  found  at  the  throne  of  grace.        .       .  49—  81 


IV  CONTENTS. 

ESSAY   II. 

THE  ORIGINALITY  OF  OUR  LORD'S  TEACHING. 

SECTION  I. — Of  God  the  Father. 

'Never  man  spake  like  this  man.' 

'  No  man  knoweth  the  Father  save  the  Son,  and  he  to  whomsoever  the 
Son  will  reveal  him.' 

Originality  not  valuable  for  its  own  sake— His  praise 
consists,  partly,  in  not  being  more  original — Deigned 
to  adopt  familiar  illustrations  and  sayings  in  order  to 
engage  attention  and  affection— His  highest  claim  to 
originality  consists  in  new  disclosures  of  truth — To 
have  merely  interpreted  the  book  of  nature,  unavail- 
ing— Is  itself  brought  under  the  curse — The  great 
truth  it  attests  is  the  existence  of  its  Maker.  I.  Christ 
taught  his  character — Prevailing  ignorance  on  the  sub- 
ject—Even in  Judea--Among  the  heathens,  the  Epi- 
curean system  general.  II.  Christ  taught  the  univer- 
sal providence  and  paternal  character  of  God.  III. 
His  love  to  man,  exemplified  in  the  mission  of  Christ. 
IV.  This,  only  the  means  of  merey.  V.  The  end- 
Free  gift  of  eternal  life.  VI.  Offered  to  all.  VII. 
Character  of  Christ  is  the  character  of  the  Father. 
VIII.  Taught  us  to  call  him  our  Father— Summary  of 
our  Lord's  teaching  on  this  subject — Life  eternal  to 
know  God  through  Christ.  ...  .  88—121 

SECTION  II. — Concerning  himself. 

'No  man  knoweth  the  Son  but  the  Father.' 

His  person  unique — Not  understood  by  his  disciples  till 
after  his  ascension.  I.  The  complexity  of  his  person. 
II.  Object  of  his  advent— Evinced  the  divine  existence 
— Embodied  the  Divine  spirituality — But,  chiefly,  rep- 
resented the  Divine  character.  III.  Mode  of  manifes- 
tation— By  sensible  representation — Affirming  that  all 
he  did  was  only  in  fulfillment  of  the  Father's  commis- 
sion— Ascending  the  cross — Saving  the  outcast — Iden- 
tifying his  interest  with  ours — Sending  salvation  to 
Jerusalem — Giving  his  own  Spirit  to  his  disciples—- 
Interceding — Personally — Allowing  us  to  plead  his 
name — Engaging  himself  to  answer  prayer — Object  of 
the  whole  to  demonstrate  that  'God is  love;'  and  to 
make  us  the  heirs  of  that  love 122 — 173 


CONTENTS. 

SECTION  III. — Of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

'This  spake  he  of  the  Spirit.' 


Difficult  lo  discriminate  between  originality  and  mere 
novelty — New  theological  opinions  sprung  up  between 
the  times  of  Malachi  and  of  Christ — Though  much  is 
taught  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  Old  Testament,  the 
doctrine  of  his  agency  is  one  of  the  most  original  that 
came  from  the  lips  of  Christ.  I.  Mission  of  the  Spirit 
dependent  on  his  own  return  lo  heaven — The  reasons 
why.  II.  Object  of  the  Spirit's  advent — To  convince 
of  sin.  III.  Means  of  his  operation.  IV.  Necessity 
of  regeneration.  V.  Effects  of  it.  VI.  Glorifies 
Christ  VII.  To  enhance  our  views  and  desires  of 
the  Spirit,  our  Lord  taught  that  to  reject  him  is  unpar- 
donable— That  his  presence  would  compensate  for  his 
own  departure — Be  a  remedy  for  all  the  miseries  of 
earth— God's  all-comprehending  gift — Free  for  all.  173—211 


SECTION  IV. — Of  the  Doctrine  of  the  Trinity ;    and  of 
a  Spiritual  Church. 


The  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  imperfectly  known  under  the 
Jewish  economy — Taught  by  our  Lord  practically — 
In  the  formula  of  Christian  baptism,  I.  The  existence 
of  a  spiritual  church.  II.  Had  been  pre-fignred — 
The  world  contains  nothing  like  it.  III.  Its  simplicity, 
IV.  Its  purpose.  V.  Its  spirituality— Preached  repent- 
ance as  a  requisite  for  membership — Armed  his  church 
with  power  to  expel  offenders — Denounced  the  Phari- 
sees for  *  teaching  as  doctrine  the  commandments  of 
men.' — The  church  his  earthly  kingdom.  .  .  211 — 226 


SECTION  V. — On  Satanic  Agency. 


'  The  devil  and  his  angels.' 


Satan  the  prince  of  devils— Number  of  his  agents— His 
apostacy,  and  ruin  of  man — His  power  on  earth,  a 
kingdom — Organized — Long  almost  undisputed — 
Christ  came  to  dispute  his  authority— Took  an  affect- 
ing view  of  human  vassalage— Satan,  aware  of  his 
advent — Undertook  to  conduct  his  temptation — Made 
his  life  an  incessant  conflict — Compassed  his  death-— 


-CONTENTS. 


Defeated— The  defeat  of  Satan  quite  reconcilable 
with  his  present  prevalence — Called  a  spirit,  to  excite 
our  vigilance — An  unclean  spirit,  toawaken  our  antip- 
athy—His influence  over  the  heart,  great— Bat  only 
exercised  with  our  consent — The  period  of  his  reiga 
limited 226—244 


.SECTION  VI. — Of  the  Immortality  of  the   Soul;    Res- 
urrection of  the  Body. 

'I  am  the  Resurrection  and  the  life.' 

The  hope  of  immortality  reasonable — The  great  instinct 
of  humanity — Revelation  necessary  to  authenticate  it 
— It  did  so,  partially,  under  the  last  economy — Full 
revelation  and  proof  of  the  doctrine  reserved  for 
Christ.  I.  Taught,  the  doctrine  of  an  intermediate  ex- 
istence. II.  Proved  a  resurrection.  III.  He  :himself 
will  raise  the  dead.  IV.  Resurrection,  universal.  V. 
Bodies  raised,  identical  with  those  intered.  VI.  Means 
of  a  resurrection  to  eternal  life,  provided  by  Christ — 
he  possesses  the  power — By  dying  in  our  stead,  has 
-acquired  the  right — Begins,  even  here,  to  make  his 
power  and  right  available,  by  quickening  dead  souls— 
The  final  extinction  of  death  so  certain,  that  he  speaks 
of  it  as  already  effected.  .  .  .  .  •  244--270 


SECTION  VII. — Of  the  Final  Judgment. 

'  The  Son  of  man  shall  come  in  his  glory;  and  before  him  shall  b3 
gathered  all  nations.' 

'The  judgment  anticipated  by  the  human  mind.  I.  Its 
publicity.  II.  Christ  himself  the  judge.  III.  Its  sol- 
emn pomp.  IV.  Its  rectitude—Hence,  it  will  be  uni- 
versal— Take  cognizance  of  every  act — A  judgment 
of  comparison  and  proportion — And  conducted  accord- 
ing to  the  known  laws  of  the  divine  government.  V. 
Its  division  of  all  intelligent  beings  into  good  and  bad 
— This  distribution  commenced  upon  earth— Angels 
will  then  be  employed  to  complete  it.  VI.  Its  final 
awards — These  awards  everlasting — The  whole  doc- 
trine exhibits  the  practical  value  of  the  gospel,  and  the 
infinite  importance  of  Christ, 271—296 


'CONTENTS.  TO 

ESSAY    III. 

SPIRITUALITY  OF  OUR  LORD'S  TEACHING. 
'  The  words  that  I  speak  unto  you  are  spirit  and  life.' 

I.  The  spirituality  of  the  Divine  Nature.  II.  Of  the 
moral  law.  III.  Of  the  worship  of  God— As  opposed 
to  that  which  is  local — Ceremonial — Prescribed  by  hu- 
man authority — Formal  and  insincere.  IV.  Of  his 
kingdom — Denounced  the  temporal  hopes  of  the  Jews 
— Called  for  spiritual  subjects — Born  from  above — Dis- 
claimed for  his  kingdom  all  resemblance  to  earthly 
governments — Conclusion— The  whole  reminds  us  of 
our  proneness  to  repose  in  a  form  of  piety  to  the  neg- 
lect of  evangelical  holiness— This  has  originated  su- 
perstition--Neutralized  the  Jewish  economy — And 
early  began  to  vitiate  Christianity  itself — Importance  of 
exemplifying  the  spiritual  nature  of  our  vocation  .  297—334 

ESSAY    IV. 

ON  THE  TENDERNESS  AND  BENEVOLENCE  OF  OUR  LORD'S  TEACHING. 

'  Learn  of  me ;  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  in  heart ;  and  ye  shall  find  rest  unto  youi; 
souls.' 

'  And  all  bare  him  witness,  and  wondered  at  the  gracious  words  which  proceeded 
out  of  his  mouth.' 

The  recollection  of  our  Lord's  character  necessary,  to 
feel  the  pathos  of  his  teaching.  I.  His  excellencies — 
Loveliness  of  his  youth — His  gracious  commission — 
Purity — Superiority  to  the  age  in  which  he  lived— In- 
dependent of  all  surrounding  influences — Uuniversal- 
ty  of  his  plans — dualities  contrasted,  but  harmonized 
by  benevolence — Overflowing  benignity.  II.  His  be- 
nevolence as  a  Teacher — Objection  answered — Em- 
ployed parables— Chose  to  be  poor— Taught  gratuitous- 
ly—Simplified instruction — Teaching  consolatory- 
Places  in  which  he  preached,  evinced  condescension — 
Always  accessible — Impressed  unwelcome  truths  by 
employing  affecting  signs ;  the  little  child  ;  washing 
the  disciples  feet ;  the  last  supper.  III.  Instances  of 
the  tenderness  and  benevolence  of  his  teaching — Pre- 
dicted his  own  death— Blessed  the  poor  in  Spirit — 
soothed  the  anxious — Offered  the  weary  rest — Parable 
of  the  prodigal — Identifies  himself  with  all  piety — 
Apostrophizes,  and  weeps  over  Jerusalem— His  vale- 
dictory discourse — His  purposes  of  grace — Universal- 


yiii  CONTENTS. 

ity  of  his  offers — Expressions  of  his  benevolence  went 
on  increasing  to  the  last— Conclusion;  character  of 
Christ  regarded  as  an  evidence  for  Christianity — An 
example— And  an  encouragement— His  expostulation 
with  the  unbeliever,  .  .  .  -  .  .  .  335—394 

ESSAY    V. 

THE  PRACTICALNESS  OF  OUR  LORD'S  TEACHING , 

'  Be  ye  perfect  even  as  your  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect.' 

I.  Our  Lord  evinced  his  wisdom,  as  a  practical  teacher, 
by  limiting  his  revelations  to  the  measure  of  our  real 
wants — By  dispensing  with  a  cumbrous  ritual.  II. 
His  favorite  topics,  humility  and  benevolence.  III. 
Preferred  comprehensive  rules  to  a  detailed  enumera- 
tion of  duties.  IV.  His  morality  extends  to  the 
thoughts.  V.  To  motives— Love  of  God.  VI.  Pre- 
scribes for  its  end,  the  glory  of  God.  VII.  For  its 
standard,  the  character  of  God.  VIII.  Injunctions, 
simple  and  authoiitative — Sanctions.  IX.  Not  only 
commands,  but  enables.  X.  Objections  of  the  in- 
completeness of  the  Saviour's  code,  answered — Happy 
effects  of  his  gospel.  XI.  Impiety  of  those  who  re- 
gard it  as  a  dispensation  from  holiness.  XII.  Supreme 
importance  which  he  ascribed  to  holiness — Aim  to 
make  earth  resemble  heaven,  ....  395-- 444 


INTRODUCTION 
TO    THE    AMERICAN   EDITION. 


THE  seal  which  God  put  upon  man,  when  he  made 
him,  was  nothing  less  than  his  own  bright  image.  What 
a  mysterious  creation  !  The  stamp  of  the  Divinity  upon 
a  child  of  the  dust !  What  noble  intellectual  and  moral 
powers  !  What  a  destiny  !  And  can  this  being,  so  '  fear- 
fully and  wonderfully  made,'  know  himself  and  find  out 
the  character  of  his  fellows  ?  Is  he  capable  of  admiring 
what  is  great  in  them,  and  imitating  what  is  good  ? 

These  questions  do  not  need  a  formal  answer — for  the 
natural,  as  well  as  '  the  proper  study  of  mankind  is  man.' 
We  are  instinctively  prompted  to  examine  other  copies  of 
this  remarkable  volume,  not  only  to  ascertain  how  far  they 
agree  with  our  own,  but  to  note  down  whatever  strikes 
us  as  peculiar  in  any  of  them.  Especially  are  all  eyes  at- 
tracted by  intellectual  and  moral  greatness,  wherever  it 
appears. 

Such  men  as  Aristotle,  Bacon,  Pascal,  Edwards,  Milton, 
Howard,  Washington,  and  Napoleon,  always  have  had  a 
multitude  of  admirers,  and  they  always  will  have.  It  is 
ferdly  necessary  to  add,  that  the  constituent  elements  of 
gleatness  in  such  extraordinary  men,  are  capable  of  being 
exhibited  in  a  variety  of  interesting  lights.  They  are  like 
tlose  large  bodies,  which  cannot  be  seen,  on  all  sides,  from 
aiy  one  station :  or  those  wide  and  deep  waters,  which 


X  INTRODUCTION. 

cannot  be  effectually  sounded,  by  heaving  the  lead  once, 
or  twice,  in  the  same  place.  The  genius — the  inspiration, 
I  was  about  to  say,  of  a  great  Poet,  or  Philosopher,  or 
Reformer,  requires  much  and  deep  reflection,  to  compre- 
hend it.  And  in  order  to  do  justice  to  the  master  spirits 
of  the  world,  the  soul  must  be  stirred  by  kindred  impulses. 
Moreover,  when  the  sublime  and  original  conceptions  of  a 
Milton,  or  the  indomitable  daring  of  a  Luther,  or  John 
Knox,  is  to  be  scanned,  a  single  biography,  or  a  critique, 
however  ably  drawn  up,  does  not  satisfy  us.  It  just  awak- 
ens our  admiration  and  curiosity.  We  inquire  more  ea- 
gerly than  ever,  wherein  '  their  great  strength  lay.'  We 
dwell  upon  every  incident  of  their  lives  with  new  interest. 
We  read  their  works  again  and  again,  with  increased  sat- 
isfaction, and  eagerly  catch  every  ray  of  light  which  is 
cast  upon  their  characters  and  writings  by  the  most  gifted 
admirers. 

But  no  mere  human  work  or  character  is  perfect.     The 
profoundest  depths  of  man's  intellect  can  be  fathomed.     In 
the  loftiest  flights  of  his  imagination  he  can  be  followed. 
None  of  his  richest  mines  are  inexhaustible.      The  time 
must  come,  when  all  will  have  been  said,  that  can  be  said, 
to  exalt  the  character  of  any  individual  of  our  race,  how- 
ever great  his  talents,  or  illustrious  his  virtues.     And  this 
would  have  been  the  case  had  sin  never  entered  the  world. 
Had  the  men  whom  we  most  admire,  been  perfectly  holy, 
it  would  have  been  a  limited -perfection  after  all — not  finite 
merely,  but  the  perfection  of,  probably,  the  lowest  order  rf 
God's  intelligent  creation.     So  that  in  due  time,  we  might 
have  learned  every  thing  that  could  be  learned  about  then  ; 
might  have  exhausted  our  admiration  upon  every  thirg 
that  was  worthy  to  be  admired. 

In  like  manner,  were  an  angel  to  come  down  from  heiv- 
en,  and  dwell  among  us,  and  unfold  to  us  those  subUme 


INTRODUCTION..  XI 

mysteries  of  science  and  religion,  which  are  too  deep  for 
human  discovery  ;  and  were  he  at  the  same  time,  to  exhib- 
it before  our  eyes,  during  a  long  course  of  years,  a  brilliant 
example  of  angelic  benevolence,  what  an  atmosphere  of 
light  and  love  would  it  throw  around  him.  How  eagerly 
should  we  listen  to  his  instructions — with  what  absorbing 
interest  should  we  study  his  character;  and  with  what 
emotions  of  wonder  and  gratitude  should  we  follow  him, 
as  *  he  went  about  doing  good  !'  Such  a  heavenly  sojourn- 
er,  might  in  due  time  withdraw  from  the  world,  to  resume 
his  golden  harp  before  the :th rone;  and  were  he  to  leave 
behind  him  a  single  volume  for  our  perusal,  illustrative  of 
his  character,  and  revealing  more  fully  the  high  purpose 
of  his  mission,  with  what  intense  interest  would  all  his 
disciples  sit  down  to  the  study  of  that  volume;  how  many 
commentaries  would  be  written  upon  it;  and  how  much 
more  and  deeper  wisdom  might  it  be  expected  to  embody, 
than  any  book  of  man's  composing.  It  would  not  be 
strange,  if  new  views  of  truth,  and  of  the  exalted  intellect 
and  benevolence  of  the  writer  should  be  elicited  a  hundred 
years  after  his  departure.  But  still,  it  would  be  the  work 
of  a  finite  mind — of  one  of  the  lowest,  perhaps,  on  the 
scale  of  angelic  gradation.  The  time  might  come,  and 
come  soon,  compared  with  the  duration  of  this  world,  when 
there  would  be  nothing  more  for  man  to  learn,  from  such 
a  volume. 

Suppose,  again,  that  Gabriel,  or  if  there  be  one  high- 
er than  he,  on.  the  mighty  scale — suppose  that  the  first 
archangel  were  to  be  sent  down  to  us,  to  take  our  nature 
into  mysterious  union  with  his  own ;  to  become  a  man  as 
well  as  an  angel  ;  suppose  he  were  to  initiate  us  still  more 
deeply  into  the  mysteries  of  science  and  the  knowledge  of 
God;  to  set  us  a  perfect  example  of  holy  obedience;  to 
sympathise  with  us  in  all  our  afflictions  ;  and  even  to  suf- 


Xll  INTRODUCTION. 

fer  for  our  crimes;  what  a  multitude  of  disciples  and  ad- 
mirers would  gather  round  him  and  hang  upon  his  lips, 
and  tender  him  their  most  grateful  acknowledgements. 
And  were  he,  in  taking  leave  of  us,  that  he  might  go  up 
and  stand  '  in  the  presence  of  God,'  to  put  into  our  hands 
a  roll  for  us  all  to  copy,  containing  a  history  of  his  own 
life  and  sufferings,  and  rich  in  the  sublimest  revelations 
which  it  would  be  in  the  power  of  an  archangel  to  make, 
how  eagerly  should  we  break  the  seal,  and  how  uneasy 
would  every  one  be  till  he  had  obtained  his  copy.  How 
should  we  pore  over  such  a  document  day  and  night;  and 
how  many  '  heavenly  things,'  would  in  all  probability  be 
left  for  other  critics  and  commentators  to  open  up  to  view, 
after  successive  generations  of  admirers  had  passed  away. 
In  so  remarkable  a  case  as  this,  wre  should  not  think  it 
over-weening  presumption  in  any  well-instructed  disciple 
to  take  the  roll  and  search  within  the  great  seal  for  others, 
which  might  possibly  have  been  over-looked  by  all  his 
predecessors.  It  might  require  thousands  of  years,  of 
deep  study,  to  bring  out  all  the  hidden  wisdom  of  this  sin- 
gle angelic  roll.  And  yet,  it  should  not  be  inexhaustible ; 
for  it  would  be  the  wisdom,  not  of  an  infinite,  but  of  a 
finite  mind.  Though  time  itself  should  be  too  short  to 
open  all  the  seals,  there  will  surely  be  scope  enough  in 
eternity.  The  period  may  arrive  in  the  everlasting  ages 
of  his  future  being,  when  man,  child  of  the  dust  as  he  is, 
will  excel  the  highest  seraph  in  his  present  knowledge  of 
God,  and  the  plan  of  his  government,  and  the  glories  of 
his  empire,  as  much  as  that  seraph  now  excels  the  hum- 
blest saint  on  earth. 

But  we  have  dwelt  too  long,  perhaps,  upon  these  suppo- 
sitions. There  are  facts  connected  with  the  history  of  this 
world,  which  must  strike  tr;e  mind  at  once,  as  infinitely 
surpassing  all  that  it  would  have  ever  entered  into  the 


INTRODUCTION.  X1H 

heart  of  man  to  suppose,  or  conceive.'  Nearly  two  thou- 
sand years  ago,  a  voice  of  strange  and  mysterious  import 
was  heard  in  heaven  ;  and  the  more  mysterious,  because 
it  issued  from  the  throne  itself.  *  Sacrifice  and  offering 
thou  wouldst  not,  but  a  body  hast  thou  prepared  me.  Lo 
I  am  come:  in  the  volume  of  the  book  it  is  written  of  me, 
I  delight  to  do  thy  will,  O  my  God  :  yea,  thy  law  is  with- 
in my  breast.3  And  who  is  it,  that  thus  announces  his 
purpose  to  visit  a  guilty  world,  and  become  incarnate  ?  We 
first  ask  the  Prophet  Isaiah,  and  he  answers,  '  Unto  us  a 
child  is  b:rn,  unto  us  a  son  is  given :  and  the  government 
shall  be  upon  his  shoulders:  his  name  shall  be  called 
Wonderful,  Counsellor,  the  mighty  God,  the  everlasting 
Father,  the  Prince  of  Peace.'  We  next  inquire  of  John, 
the  beloved  disciple,  and  he  replies,  *  In  the  beginning  was 
the  Word,  and  the  Word  was  with  God,  and  the  Word 
was  God. — All  things  were  made  by  him,  and  without  him 
was  not  any  thing  made  that  was  made.  In  him  was  Life, 
and  the  Life  was  the  Light  of  men.'  '  And  the  Word  was 
made  flesh,  and  dwelt  among  us,  and  we  beheld  his  glory, 
the  glory  of  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father,  full  of  grace 
and  truth.'  Then  we  inquire  of  'the  man  Christ  Jesus' 
himself,  'who  art  thou?' — and  this  is  his  remarkable  an- 
swer. 'Before  Abraham  was,  I  am.'  'I  and  my  Father 
are  one.'  'For  as  the  Father  raiseth  up  the  dead  and 
quickeneth  them,  even  so  the  Son  quickeneth  whom  he 
will.  For  the  Father  judgeth  no  man,  but  hath  commit- 
ted all  judgment  unto  the  Son  :  that  all  men  should  honor 
the  Son,  even  as  they  honor  the  Father.'  We  next  inter- 
rogate the  Apostle  Paul — 'Who  is  this  that  cometh  from 
Edom,  with  dyed  garments  from  Bozrah  ?  This  that  is 
glorious  in  his  apparel,  travelling  in  the  greatness  of  his 
strength?'  And  he  breaks  out  in  adoring  transport, 
'Without  controversy,  great  is  the  mystery  of  godliness: 


XIV  INTRODUCTION. 

God  was  manifest  in  the  flesh,  justified  in  the  spirit,  seen 
of  angels,  preached  unto  the  Gentiles,  believed  on  in  the 
world,  received  up  into  glory.      *  Let  this  mind  be  in  you 
which  was  in  Christ  Jesus,  who  being  in  the  form  of  God, 
thought  it  not  robbery  to  be  equal  ,with  God,  but  made 
himself  of  no  reputation,  and  took  upon  himself  the  form 
of  a  servant,  and  was  made  in  the  likeness  of  man ;    and 
being  found  in  fashion  as  a  man,  he  humbled  himself,  and 
became  obedient  unto  death,  even  the  death  of  the  cross ; 
that  at  the  name  of  Jesus,  every  knee  should  bow,  of  things 
in  heaven,  and  things  in  earth,  and  things  under  the  earth ; 
and  that  every  tongue  should  confess,  that  Jesus  Christ  is 
the  Lord,  to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father.'     '  In  whom  we 
have  redemption  through  his  blood,  even  the  forgiveness  of 
sins ;  who  is  the  image  of  the  invisible  God,  the  first-born 
of  every  creature.     For  by  him  were  all  things  created 
that   are  in  heaven  and  in   earth,    visible  and  invisible, 
whether  they  be  thrones,  or  dominions,  or  principalities, 
or  powers  :    all  things  were  created  by  him,  and  for  him. 
And  he  is  before  all  things,  and  by  him  all  things  consist.' 
Finally;  we  turn  to  the  beloved  disciple  once  more,  and 
ask  him  what  he  saw  and  heard  in  the  visions  of  Patmos, 
and  he  answers,  *  I  beheld,  and  heard  the  voice  of  many 
angels  round  about  the  throne,  and  the  living  ones  and  the 
elders;  and  the  number  of  them  was  ten  thousand  times 
ten  thousand  and  thousands  of  thousands,  saying  with  a 
loud  voice,  Worthy  is  the  Lamb  that  was  slain,  to  receive 
power,  and  riches,  and  wisdom,  and  strength,  and  honor, 
and  glory,  and  blessing.     And  every  creature  which  is  in 
heaven,  and  on  the  earth,  and  under  the  earth,  and  such  as 
are  in  the  sea,  and  all  that  are  in  them,  heard  I  saying,  Bless- 
ing, and  honor,  and  glory,  and  power,  be  unto  him  thatsit- 
teth  upon  the  throne,  and  unto  the  Lamb  for  ever  and  ever. 
And  the  four  living  ones  said,  Amen.     And  the  four  and 


INTRODUCTION.  XV 

twenty  elders  fell  down  and  worshipped  him  that  liveth 
for  ever  and  ever.' 

And  was  the  earth  ever  honored  and  blest  with  this  di- 
vine and  glorious  presence  ?  If  what  we  read  in  the 
scriptures,  of  the  incarnation,  the  miracles,  the  preaching, 
the  death,  the  resurrection  of  the  Son  of  God  be  true,  it  is 
the  mystery  of  all  mysteries.  I  do  not  expect  ever  to 
comprehend  it.  The  more  I  reflect  upon  it,  the  more 
amazing  does  it  appear.  What  infinite  opposites  meet  in 
the  person  of  Jesus  Christ.  '  The  mighty  God,'  and  yet  a 
helpless  child  !  The  Creator  of  all  worlds,  and  yet  with- 
out a  place  'to  lay  his  head!'  *  God,  manifest  in  the 
flesh  ! '  A  man,  and  yet  infinitely  higher  than  the  angels  ! 
Equal  with  the  Father,  in  dignity,  and  glory,  and  blessed- 
ness ;  and  yet  at  the  same  moment  'a  man  of  sorrows  and 
acquainted  with  grief  '  A  conqueror  of  the  powers  of 
darkness,  in  the  very  hour  that  they  prevailed  against 
him  !  How  can  I  believe  it?  Was  the  divine  nature  in 
the  person  of  Christ,  transformed  into  the  human  nature  of 
the  son  of  Mary?  And  was  the  human  nature  of  the 
son  of  Mary  changed  into  the  divine  nature?  No — but 
the  two  were  mysteriously  united,  so  as  to  become  one 
person.  The  man  Christ  Jesus,'  was  not  '  the  Lord  from 
heaven;'  but,  'in  him  dwelt  all  the  fulness  of  the  God- 
head bodily.'  The  Deity  did  not  suffer  and  sink  under, 
the  agonies  of  Calvary,  and  yet  in  the  person  of  Jesus 
God  there  purchased  the  church  with  his  own  blood.  A 
great  mystery,  but  no  absurdity.  Above  reason,  but  not 
contrary  to  it.  There  was  the  bloody  cross.  There  were 
the  thorns,  the  nails,  and  the  spear.  There  the  plan  of 
redemption  was  more  fully  unfolded,  than  ever  before,  to 
the  admiring  gaze  of  angels.  There  it  was,  that  fhe  meek 
and  holy  sufferer  *-bore  our  sins  and  carried  our  sorrows;1 


XVI  INTRODUCTION. 

and  it  was  there  that    '  mercy   and    truth  met  together, 
righteousness  and  peace  embraced  each  other.' 

Here  then,  Christian  reader  is  a  theme  worthy  of  an 
angel's  pen — yea,  of  more  than  an  angel's  intellect.  Here 
is  the  grand  radiant  point,  towards  which  all  the  affinities 
converge: — infinite  wisdom — infinite  love — infinite  jus- 
tice— infinite  mercy  !  Depths,  heights,  length,  breadth — 
all  passing  knowledge!  Innumerable  pens  have  been 
employed  upon  the  life,  character,  preaching  and  mediato- 
rial work  of  Christ.  Hundreds  of  commentaries,  more 
or  less  critical  and  extended,  have  been  written  upon  the 
four  gospels.  But  have  '  the  seven  seals  '  all  been  opened  ? 
Is  there  nothing  left,  to  reward  the  toil  of  those  who  may 
hereafter  devote  their  best  powers  to  the  study  and  elucida- 
tion of  these  sacred  books?  '  Who  by  searching  can  find 
out  God,  or  the  Almighty  unto  perfection  V  The  charac- 
ter of  Christ  is  an  infinitely  perfect  character.  The  gos- 
pels, in  which  he  is  exhibited,  as  the  divine  object  of  our 
faith  and  love,  and  adoration  ;  and  which  contain  the  record 
of  his  miracles,  doctrines,  sufferings  and  final  triumph,  were 
given  by  inspiration  of  God,'  and  *  the  treasure  of  wis- 
dom and  knowledge'  which  they  contain,  are  literally  in- 
exhaustible. After  all  the  *  living  water '  that  has  been 
drawn  from  these  '  wel's  of  salvation,'  there  is  no  diminu- 
tion of  the  supply.  Were  a  thousand  of  the  most  gifted 
and  holy  men  now  on  earth,  to  '  set  the  Lord  Jesus  always 
before  them,'  and  spend  their  whole  lives  in  studying  his 
adorable  character,  they  would  be  so  far  from  exhausting 
the  theme,  that  other  thousands  more  gifted  and  more  holy 
might  find  ample  scope  for  the  employment  of  their  pow- 
ers, down  to  the  end  of  time.  However  great  and  good 
the  last  writer,  upon  the  life,  character  and  teaching  of 
Christ  may  be,  and  with  all  the  helps  which  he  will  be 
able  to  command,  he  must  leave  the  divine  portraiture  still 


INTRODUCTION.  XV11 

unfinished.  Nor  can  it  be  doubted,  that  the  mysteries  of 
redemption,  including  the  divine  and  mediatorial  character, 
the  incarnation  and  atoning  sacrifice  of  the  Son  of  God, 
will  employ  the  minds,  the  hearts,  and  the  tongues  of  the  Re- 
deemed, through  everlasting  ages ;  and  that  new  develope- 
ments  of  the  perfections  and  'glory  of  God,  in  the  face  of 
Jesus  Christ,  will  be  made  forever  and  ever.' 

In  this  view  of  the  subject,  (and  I  am  sure  it  must  be 
the  right  view,)  however  well  any  man,  or  number  of  men 
may  have  written  upon  the  preaching,  miracles,  or  offices 
of  Christ,  it  affords  no  objection,  or  discouragement  to 
others,  who  may  wash  to  occupy  the  same  ground.  No 
one,  indeed,  should  be  encouraged  to  put  forth  the  results 
of  his  labors,  unless  he  has  something  to  say,  which  is 
worthy  of  being  presented  to  the  Christian  public — for 
time  and  money  are  too  precious,  to  be  thrown  away  upon 
mere  commonplace  ink  and  paper.  But  when  a  man  of 
decided  talents  and  piety,  lays  out  his  strength  upon  any 
one  of  the  great  topics  just  alluded  to,  and  is  happy  in  his 
method  of  treating  it,  he  deserves  our  thanks,  for  putting 
into  our  hands  this  new  help  to  Christian  edification. 

The  author  of  the  present  work,  is  the  pastor  of  an  in- 
dependent church,  in  Epsom,  Eng.  ;  and  is  '  well  reported 
of  by  the  brethren.'  It  being  his  object  in  this  volume,  to 
bring  us  directly  to  Christ,  for  divine  instruction,  he  enti- 
tles it,  THE  GREAT  TEACHER.  The  book  contains  five 
Essays,  of  considerable  length,  and  on  the  following  im- 
portant topics.  I.  The  authority  of  our  Lord's  teaching. 
II.  The  originality  of  our  Lord's  Teaching,  under  seven 
distinct  heads.  III.  The  spirituality  of  our  Lord1  s  teach- 
ing. IV.  On  the  tenderness  and  benevolence,  of  our  Lord's 
teaching.  V.  The  practicalness  of  our  Lord's  teaching. 
In  reading  these  highly  original  and  finished  Essays,  I 
B 


XV111  INTRODUCTION. 

have  been  exceedingly  delighted,  as  I  am  sure  every  per- 
son must  be,  who  is  capable  of  appreciating  weighty  and 
well  digested  thoughts,  imbued  with  deep  christiari  feel- 
ing, and  clothed  in  neat  and  polished  language.  Mr.  Har- 
ris is  such  a  writer,  as  we  do  not  ordinarily  meet  with 
any  where.  It  would  be  easy  to  quote  passages  almost  at 
random,  from  his  book  of  extraordinary  condensaiion  and 
beauty.  He  writes  like  a  disciple,  who  has  long  been 
accustomed  to  '  sit  at  the  feet  of  Jesus,'  and  with  eminent 
advantage.  Instead  of  asking  what  other  men  have  thought 
of  THE  GREAT  TEACHER,  and  borrowing  their  opinions, 
he  has  evidently  heard  every  word  for  himself ;  and  he  gives 
us  his  own  impressions  vividly  and  forcibly,  just  as  he  re- 
ceived them.  Such'  a  volume  as  this,  is  not  often  put  forth 
before  the  meridian  of  life,  and  never,  either  before  or  after, 
without  deep  and  protracted  meditation. 

I  do  not  wonder  at  the  avidity  which  is  hastening  its 
wide  circulation  in  England;  nor  at  the  almost  unquali- 
fied praise  which  is  bestowed  upon  it,  by  so  many  of  the 
most  competent  judges  in  this  department  of  sacred  litera- 
ture. It  was  with  very  great  pleasure,  that  I  brought  the  vol- 
ume out  with  me,  on  my  return  from  that  country ;  and  I 
esteem  it  an  honor,  that  I  am  permitted  to  assist  in  bring- 
ing it  before  the  American  public.  That  disciple  must 
have  thought  a  great  deal  more,  or  a  great  deal  less,  than 
nine  tenths  of  his  Christian  brethren,  of  the  striking  pe- 
culiarities of  our  Lord's  preaching,  who  can  read  these 
highly  original  and  finished  Essays,  without  having  his 
mind  enlightened,  his  heart  warmed,  and  his  admiration 
of  the  Great  Teacher  very  much  increased.  '  Blessed, 
indeed,  are  those  servants,'  who  *  hear  his  sayings  and  do 
them.' 

Amherst  College,  Dec,  1.  1835. 


PREFACE. 


WHEN  the  subject  of  the  following  Essays  first  engaged 
my  thoughts,  as  many  as  twelve  or  fifteen  characteristics 
of  our  Lord's  Teaching  presented  themselves  to  notice, 
all  of  which  I  hoped  to  be  able  to  illustrate  in  a  volume. 
But  the  expansive  nature  of  the  subject  soon  warned  me 
of  the  necessity  of  selection.  For  this  end,  I  divided  the 
series  into  two  classes,  of  primary  and  secondary  impor- 
tance; intending  to  confine  myself  to  the  former.  The 
same  cause,  however,  reduced  me  again  to  compound  with 
my  intentions,  and  to  omit  some  even  of  primary  interest. 
Of  these  I  may  be  allowed  to  specify  two : — the  Evangel- 
icalness  of  our  Lord's  Teaching,  and  the  striking  pecu- 
liarity that  he  was  his  own  prevailing  subject.  These 
topics,  indeed,  though  not  formally  introduced,  will  be 
found  to  be  illustrated,  to  no  inconsiderable  extent,  in  vari- 
ous parts  of  the  volume.  But  on  each  of  them  I  will  here 
take  the  opportunity  of  recording  a  few  remarks. 

If  any  are  disposed  to  wonder  why  our  Lord  should 
have  said  so  much  less,  in  the  way  of  direct  assertion,  con- 
cerning his  personal  dignity,  than  his  apostles,  let  it  be 
remembered — that  it  was  not  his  object  to  give  a  full  verbal 
exposition  of  his  personal  claims:  that,  during  his  earthly 
ministry,  it  was  his  aim,  and  a  part  of  his  humiliation, 
partially  to  conceal  them  :  to  observe  a  medium  course  be- 


XX  PREFACE, 

tvveen  the  extremes  of  a  mean  obscurity  on  the  one  hand, 
and  an  overwhelming*  grandeur  on  the  other;  to  provide 
that  human  agency  might  be  left  free  and  unconstrained  in 
its  conduct  towards  him  on  the  one  hand,  and  that  his  love 
on  the  other,  might  move  on  to  the  cross,  unthwarted  and 
undisturbed  by  man  ;  that  the  solemn  oblation  of  himself, 
which  was  the  act  to  which  all  his  ministry  subserved,  for 
his  whole  life  was  only  a  preface  to  his  death,  might  nei- 
ther be  prevented  nor  disregarded  :  that  he  left  his  dignity 
to  be  inferred  chiefly  from  his  actions,  and  from  a  compari- 
son of  his  life  with  the  writings  of  the  prophets  ;  that  his 
divine  greatness,  having  long  been  the  subject  of  prophecy, 
it  was  not  necessary  for  him  to  do  more  on  this  head  than 
to  identify  himself  with  the  prophecy.  And  he  did  this, 
— explicitly  affirming  that  they  wrote  of  him.  Bringing 
all  the  rays  of  prophetic  light  together,  he  wreathed  them 
into^a  crown  of  glory  for  his  own  head. 

But,  as  if  to  compensate  himself  for  the  arrangement 
which  required  the  temporary  obscuration  of  his  greatness, 
he  was  emphatically  his  own  subject.  He  himself  was 
almost  invariably  the  point  from  which  he  started,  the  theme 
on  which  he  enlarged,  or  the  centre  to  which  he  returned. 
If  he  adverted  to  the  great  elements  of  nature,  it  was  only 
to  proclaim  them  emblems  of  himself.  If  he  spoke  of  the 
greatness  of  persons  and  objects  which  his  hearers  rever- 
enced next  to  the  Deity,  it  was  only  to  announce  himself 
as  greater  than  they.  If  he  displaced  the  types  and  rites 
of  the  Jewish  church,  it  was  that  he  might  occupy  their 
place  himself;  clearing  the  entire  area  of  the  church,  to 
fill  it  with  his  own  glory.  Returned  all  the  great  things 
of  nature,  and  of  the  ancient  church,  into  so  many  margi- 
nal references  to  the  all-absorbing  theme,  himself ;  and 
he  frequently  did  it  in  a  manner  which  showed  that  he 
considered  them  dignified  by  being  so  employed,  He 


PREFACE.  XXI 

carried  this  same  spirit  of  self-aggrandizement  into  the 
presence  of  God  ;  he  predicted  that  the  Eternal  Spirit  him- 
self should  come  and  wait  on  his  glory.  He  is  distin- 
guished from  every  other  teacher  by  this,  that  while  he 
spoke  of  lowliness  as  his  chief  characteristic,  he  seldom 
released  the  attention  of  his  hearers  from  himself — and 
yet  the  heart  of  the  Christian  is  sensible  of  no  inconsisten- 
cy here,  for  it  feels  that  while  what  he  has  said  of  himself 
is  measurable,  what  he  left  unsaid  and  unrevealed,  is  im- 
measurable. 

On  the  other  subject  named — the  evangelical  nature  of 
our  Lord's  teaching — perhaps,  the  first  thought  that  occurs, 
relates  to  the  fact  of  our  Lord's  discourses  containing  less 
of  the  peculiar  doctrines  of  grace  than  the  teaching  of  the 
apostles.  How  is  the  striking  contrast  between  the  gos- 
pels and  epistles,  in  this  important  respect,  to  be  accounted 
for  ?  The  folio  wing  considerations  may  furnish  a  satisfac- 
tory reply.  1.  It  was  only  in  accordance  with  his  own  ar- 
rangements and  predictions  that  it  should  be  so.  Hence, 
he  foretold  that  his  first  disciples  should  do  greater  works 
than  he  did  ;  that  their  success  should  be  greater :  and  that 
it  was  reserved  for  the  Spirit  to  lead  them  into  all  truth. 
2.  The  very  limited  and  gross  apprehensions  of  the  disci- 
ples imposed  a  restraint  on  the  teaching  of  Christ,  and  de- 
termined the  measure  of  his  divine  communications. 
Though  he  had  '  many  things  to  say'  to  them,  he  pro- 
nounced them  unable  to  bear  the  disclosure.  And  what 
would  be  the  things  which,  under  these  circumstances,  he 
would  necessarily  withhold — what,  but  the  more  spiritual 
truths  and  peculiar  doctrines  of  salvation  ?  3.  The  object 
and  limit  of  his  instructions  appear  to  have  been,  to  incul- 
cate the  nature  and  necessity  of  that  moral  excellence 
which  God  and  heaven  require;  in  order  that  he  might 
make  us  feel  the  want  of  it,  preparatory  to  the  ofTer  of  his 


PREFACE. 


Holy  Spirit  to  produce  it.  The  full  and  explicit  exposi- 
tion of  the  evangelical  system,  therefore,  did  not  come 
within  the  pre-determined  scope  of  his  teaching.  For,  4. 
He  came  less  to  preach  salvation  than  to  procure  it  ;  to 
make  known  redemption,  not  by  a  verbal  and  detailed  an- 
nouncement of  its  plan,  but  by  the  visible  accomplishment 
of  its  conditions  ;  to  be  the  gospel,  and  to  make  it.  He 
came  to  supply  the  facts  out  of  which  the  evangelical  doc- 
trines are  deduced,  and  which  must  philosophically  pre- 
cede them.  For  what  is  the  doctrinal  part  of  the  'gospel 
but  the  exposition  of  these  facts?  their  transplantation  out 
of  the  historical  or  external  world,  into  the  intellectual  or 
spiritual?  5.  It  might,  however,  be  easily  shown,  that 
whatever  is  essential  to  the  Christian  system  is  to  be  found, 
in  semine,  in  our  Lord's  teaching.  His  divinity,  his  atone- 
ment, the  influence  of  his  Spirit,  and  all  the  leading  doc- 
trines of  grace  are  to  be  found  there  in  a  condensed  state, 
in  a  quintessence.  If  the  principles  of  Christianity  as 
taught  by  the  apostles,  form  a  chain  of  evangelical  truth, 
the  first  link,  the  very  staple  ring,  is  to  be  found  in  the 
teaching  of  Christ.  The  humble  incrustation  cannot  con- 
ceal from  the  eye  of  the  mineralogist  the  precious  gem 
that  dwells  within,  and  a  single  blow,  properly  given,  will 
lay  bare  its  peculiar  primitive  or  fundamental  form  :  many 
of  our  Lord's  sayings  have  a  signification  and  a  value  far 
beyond  their  unpretending  appearance  ;  nor  is  it  difficult 
for  the  Christian  disciple  to  discover  in  them  the  first  forms, 
the  simple  elements  of  evangelical  truth,  of  which  the 
teaching  of  the  apostles  was  only  the  lamina,  the  natural 
accretions  afterwards  formed.  His  sayings  are  texts  ;  their 
writings  are  only  the  necessary  amplification  and  comment. 
Their  instructions  are  not  so  properly  a  new  revelation,  as 
the  result  of  the  opening  of  their  eyes  to  behold  the  won- 
derful things  contained  in  his  teaching.  6.  And,  finally, 


PREFACE,  XX111 

the  uniform  mode  of  divine  revelation,  in  all  ages,  requir- 
ed that  the  doctrines  of  grace  should  be  gradually  develop- 
ed ;  proceeding  from  the  obscurity  of  dawn  in  our  Lord's 
teaching,  to  the  radiance  of  noon-day  in  that  of  the  apostles. 

Since  writing  the  preceding  paragraph,  I  have  been  sur- 
prised at  meeting  with  the  following  remarks,  bearing  on 
the  same  subject ;  which  as  they  occur  in  a  popular  work 
of  the  present  day,  Abbot's  '  CORNER  STONE,'  deserve  a 
moment's  attention.  '  Others  are  embarrassed  when  they 
think  on  this  subject; '  (that  is,  on  the  greater  prominence 
given  to  the  object  and  efficacy  of  our  Lord's  death  in  the 
epistles  compared  with  the  gospel;)  '  they  do  not  know 
how  to  reconcile  the  seeming  inconsistency,  though  they 
endeavor  to  diminish  it,  as  far  as  possible,  by  exaggerating 
and  emphasizing  the  little  which  Jesus  Christ  did  say,  in 

regard  to  his  sufferings  and  death He  who  cannot 

take  the  directions  which  Christ  or  John  gave,  for  begin- 
ning a  life  of  piety  by  simple  repentance  for  the  past,  with- 
out adding  something  from  his  own  theological  stores,  or 
forcing  the  language  to  express  what  never  could  have  been 
understood  by  those  who  originally  heard  it,  he  cannot  be 
studying  the  gospel  in  the  right  Spirit.1  To  put  a  forced 
and  mystical  construction  on  any  part  of  the  oracles  of  God, 
is  an  act  of  irreverence  which  cannot  be  sufficiently  dep- 
recated. But  it  is  one  thing  to  put  them  to  the  torture, 
compelling  them  to  utter  what  they  never  meant ;  to  turn 
from  them,  or  to  drown  their  voice  with  our  own,  before 
they  have  uttered  all  the  mind  of  the  Spirit,  is  another. 

The  statements  cited  appear  at  least  to  be  unconsidered 
and  unguarded;  and,  on  the  principle  which  they  seem  to 
involve, — namely,  that  the  understanding  of  our  Lord's 
original  hearers  was  the  measure  of  his  meaning, — I  will 
venture  to  remark ;  First,  that,  in  direct  contradiction  to 
this  proposition,  it  is  a  well-known  canon  of  scripture  in- 


XXIV  PREFACE. 

terpretation,  that  '  the  sayings  of  our  Saviour  are  to  be  ap- 
prehended, not  merely  in  that  sense  to  which  the  views  of 
his  hearers  at  the  time  could  reach,  but  in  the  sense  which 
he  himself  attached  to  them.7  Second,  his  own  practice 
contains  a  warrant  for  this  canon  ;  for  how  often  do  we 
find  him  applying  it  to  the  interpretation  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment :  expounding  some  of  its  truths  in  a  sense  more  spir- 
itual and  profound,  than  even  the  original  propounders 
themselves  conceived.  Third,  his  express  declarations, 
and  the  confessions  of  his  apostles,  harmonize  with  it. 
They  frankly  acknowledge,  that  when  he  adverted  to  the 
nature  and  necessity  of  his  sufferings.,  they  understood  not 
his  meaning.  He  reproached  them  with  their  slowness  of 
apprehension.  He  promised  his  Spirit  to  recall  his  .say- 
ings to  their  minds  as  so  many  lost  truths.  He  intimated 
that  he  had  left  in  their  possession  truths  of  which  they 
little  suspected  the  value.  And  after  his  resurrection,  he 
said  unto  them,  these  are  the  things  which  I  spake  unto 
you,  while  I  was  yet  with  you  ....  Then  opened  he  their 
understanding, that  they  might  understand  the  Scriptures;  ' 
obviously  implying,  that,  up  to  that  moment,  they  had  not 
understood  his  evangelical  expositions  of  them.  Fourth, 
it  seems  to  be  necessary  for  the  moral  developernent  of  our 
nature,  that  the  truth  employed  should  be  such  as  is  itself 
capable  of  constant  expansion  and  new  developements  ; — 
that,  like  its  Divine  original,  it  should  brighten  while  we 
are  looking  at  it ;  heighten  while  we  are  aspiring  to  reach 
it ;  and  thus  elevate  us  to  itself,  the  standard  of  perfection. 
Accordingly,  all  the  first  lessons  set  us  by  God  in  nature 
and  providence,  appear  to  be  constructed  on  this  principle. 
He  who  becomes  a  student  of  nature  soon  finds  that  he  is 
bending  over  a  fountain  which  deepens  beneath  his  gaze. 
And  what  is  the  Jewish  economy,  if  we  desire  to  reach  its 
interior  truths,  but  a  vast,  profound,  elaborated  enigma, — 


PREFACE.  XXV 

to  which  the  gospel  indeed  brings  us  the  key, — but  the 
opening  and  exploration  of  which  is  yet  incomplete:  ex- 
cusing, if  riot  justifying  the  opinion  of  Origen,  that  'a 
clear  understanding  of  the  reasons  of  the  Israelitic  econ- 
omy, and  of  all  the  Levitical  laws,  belongs  to  the  privileges 
of  the  future  life.'  And  the  teaching  of  Christ  seems  to 
possess  the  same  profound  and  comprehensive  character. 
Comparative  anatomy  informs  us,  not  only  that  animated 
nature  forms  an  ascending  series  of  beings,  beginning 
with  few  organs,  and  increasing  in  number,  complexity 
and  finish,  up  to  man  ;  but  that  in  some  of  the  earliest  and 
simplest  links  of  the  living  chain,  there  is  traceable  a 
promise,  a  mute  prophecy  of  all  the  rest,  a  rough  outline 
of  all  that  is  to  follow  ;  that  many  processes  are  sketched 
in  the  lower  animals,  the  completion  of  which  is  reserved 
for  the  composition  of  man.  In  like  manner,  the  entire 
system  of  Judaism  was  one  compacted  prophecy  of  the  gos- 
pel, a  presentiment  of  Christianity  ;  in  which  the  great 
doctrines  and  virtues,  which  it  is  the  province  of  the  new 
dispensation  to  develope  and  mature,  may  be  found  in  the 
embryoes  and  elements.  And,  on  the  same  principle,  in  the 
sayings  of  Christ,  the  gospel  may  be  found  thrown  out  in 
its  rudiments.  '  For  Christ,'  saith  Milton,  '  gives  no  full 
comments,  or  continued  discourses,  but  speaks  oft  in  mon- 
osyllables, like  a  master,  scattering  the  heavenly  grain  of 
his  doctrine  like  pearls  here  and  there,  which  requires  a 
skilful  and  laborious  gatherer.  His  teaching  is  the  seed- 
plot  in  which  the  great  doctrines  of  grace  were  first  sown, 
to  be  afterwards  transplanted  and  cultivated  in  the  inspired 
ministry  of  the  apostles,  where  they  have  room  to  luxu- 
riate and  yield  in  perfection  the  fruit  of  life. 

Considerations  like  these  embolden  us  to  suppose,  not 
merely  that  the  whole  evangelical  system  as  developed  by 
the  apostles,  lies,  in  its  germ,  in  the  teaching  of  Christ; 


XXVI  PREFACE. 

but  that  such  is  the  fullness,  the  seminal  character  of  his 
teaching,  that  even  their  epistles  do  not  exhaust  it.  That 
they  have  put  us  in  possession  of  every  essential  truth,  we 
admit ;  that  any  fundamental  doctrine  remains  to  be  dis- 
covered, cannot  for  a  moment  be  imagined;  but  it  may  be 
suggested,  that  even  with  their  inspired  epistles  in  our 
hand,  and  regarding  those  epistles  in  the  light  of  commen- 
taries on  the  sayings  of  our  Lord,  there  yet  remain  to  be 
discovered  in  his  teaching,  new  aspects  of  some  truths,  the 
immeasurable  compass  of  others,  and  harmonies  subsisting 
between  them  all,  beyond  the  perception  of  ordinary  vision  ; 
and  the  developement  of  which  is  reserved  to  reward  the 
pious  industry  of  the  devout  and  vigorous  mind. 

The  church  of  God  has  been  too  generally  content  with 
the  great  surface-truths  of  revelation, — those  which  we 
have  only  to  stoop  for  in  order  to  possess, — but  which  are 
made  so  obvious  and  placed  so  near,  not  as  a  premium  to 
indolence,  but  in  accommodation  to  our  moral  incurious- 
ness  and  necessities  ;  not  as  a  dispensation  from  diligent, 
investigation,  but  as  an  allurement  to  it  where  it  can  be 
made,  and  to  render  it  unnecessary  where  it  cannot.  '  The 
kingdom  of  heaven' — in  the  sense  of  celestial  truth — '  is 
like  treasure  hid  in  a  field  ;  the  which,  when  a  man  hath 
found,  he  hideth ;  and,  for  joy  thereof,  goeth,  and  selleth 
all  that  he  hath,  and  buyeth  that  field  ;'  and  buyeth  it  in 
order  that  he  may  ransack,  and  turn  up  every  part  of  it, 
and  make  himself  master  of  all  its  treasures.  And  further, 
it  is  as  if  the  same  man,  while  digging  for  more  coins  and 
concealed  jewels,  should  unexpectedly  happen  on  a  vein  of 
precious  ore.  Hitherto,  we  have  done  little  more  than 
collect,  estimate,  and  classify  the  more  accessible  treasures. 
But  let  the  shaft  which  is  already  begun,  be  sunk  deep 
enough,  and  the  labors  of  the  mine  be  properly  conducted 
and  the  discovery  of  many  a  rich  and  precious  lode  will 


PREFACE.  XXV11 

demonstrate  that  the  great  globe  itself  is  not  more  inter- 
laced with  golden  veins,  and  filled  with  precious  things, 
than  the  field  of  revelation :  the  storehouse  of  the  unsearch- 
able riches  of  Christ. 

This,  indeed,  is  predicable  of  every  part  of  Scripture ; 
bat,  for  the  reasons  already  glanced  at,  it  applies  especially 
to  the  teaching  of  Christ;  and  if  there  be  one  part  of  his 
teaching  to  which  it  applies  more  emphatically  than  to 
another,  I  would  venture  to  suggest  that  it  is  to  what  he 
taught  on  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  '  He  shall  not 
speak  of  himself,'  said  Christ ;  and,  as  if  to  supply  the  de- 
ficiency, to  reward  and  provide  for  that  disinterested  and 
emphatic  silence  of  the  Divine  Spirit  concerning  himself, 
our  Lord  made  him  the  great  theme  of  his  own  last  dis- 
courses and  promises.  Aqd  when  was  he  more  original 
and  explicit  than  when  dwelling  on  this  subject?  What  a 
vast  tract  of  new  truth  did  he  add  to  the  domains  of  faith, 
all  fertilized  and  enriched  with  the  effluence  of  the  Spirit! 
On  what  topic  was  he  more  evangelical  than  on  this? — 
even  antedating  the  style  of  the  epistles,  and  leaving  little 
if  any  thing  for  them  to  add  either  in  unction  or  in  fullness. 
What  subject  did  he  equally  rely  on  to  console  his  disci- 
ples, and  to  fill  them  with  expectation  in  the  prospect  of 
his  own  departure?  He  was  in  search  of  the  strongest 
solace  ;  and  he  had  an  infinite  variety  of  subjects  to  choose 
from:  but  out  of  all  that  "multitude,  the  topic  on  which  he 
chose  chiefly  to  insist,  was,  the  promise  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
And  what  lofty  things  did  he  predicate  concerning  him ! 
What  names  of  greatness  and  goodness  did  he  bestow  on 
him  !  He  made  him  the  great  promise  of  his  new  dis- 
pensation !  And  yet,  what  doctrine,  what  leading  doctrine 
at  least,  is  less  insisted  on  in  the  church  than  the  doctrine 
of  divine  influence?  And,  consequently,  what,  promise  is 
less  fulfilled  to  the  church  than  the  promise  of  the  Spirit  ? 


XXV111  PREFACE. 

It  is  true,  an  occasional  sermon  is  preached  on  the  subject, 
just  to  satisfy  the  sense  of  duty  :  and  an  occasional  restless- 
ness is  observable  in  parts  of  the  church  ;    but,  alas  !   it  is 
a  starting  in  sleep,  rather  than  an  awaking  out  of  it; — like 
the   spasmodic  motions  of  a  person  who  is  visited  in  sleep 
by  the   reproachful   remembrance    of  an    important  duty 
which  he  has  consciously  neglected  ;  it  is  the  involuntary 
agitations  of  the  slumbering  church,  convulsively  answer- 
ing to  the  unwelcome  reproaches  of  the  unslumbering  con- 
science     Other  prophecies  are  considered :   but  the  prom- 
ise of  the  Spirit,  the  great  unfulfilled  prophecy  of  the  gospel, 
is  doomed,  by  general  consent,  to  stand  over  for  future  con- 
sideration.    Other  blessings  are   desired  ;  but  this,  which 
would  bring  all  blessings  in  its  train  ;  which  is  offered  in 
an  abundance    corresponding  to  its   infinite   plenitude,   an 
abundance,  of  which  the  capacity  of  the   recipient  is  to  be 
the  only  limit ;  of  this   we  are  satisfied  with  just  so  much 
as  will  save  our  sleep   from  deepening  into  death.     Each 
falling  shower — consecrated  emblem  of  divine  influence — 
the  scantiest  that  moistens  the  thirsty  earth,  descends  more 
copiously  than  the  offered  influences   of  the  Holy   Spirit, 
and  reproaches  us  with  the  spiritual  drought  of  the  church- 
And  so  long  have  we  accustomed    ourselves  to  be  content 
with  little  things,    that  we  have  gone    far  in   disqualifying 
ourselves    for  the  reception  of  great  things  ;  the   revivals 
of  the  new  world  are  still  regarded  by  many  '  as  idle  tales.' 
The  church   itself   requires   conversion.     We  pray  for 
the  conversion  of  the  world  :  but  the  church  itself,  though 
in  another,  yet  in  a  sober    and  substantial  sense,   needs  a 
similar   blessing.     The  object  of  conversion    is  two-fold  : 
personal,    and  relative;  to  bless  us,  and  to  make  us  bless- 
ings.    Individual  conversion  accomplishes  the  first  object, 
by  placing   us  in  a   personal   and   evangelical  relation   to 
Christ ;  the  second  can  only  be  scripturally  effected  by  the 


PREFACE.  XXIX 

collection  and  organization  of  those  who  are  so  related  to 
Christ  into  a  church,  and  by  that  church  advancing  for- 
wards, and  placing  itself  in  an  evangelical  relation  to  the 
Holy  Spirit.  Now  the  prevailing  sin  of  Christians  is,  that 
they  are  inclined  to  stop  short  at  the  first  of  these  stages. 
They  are,  perhaps,  sufficiently  alive  to  the  importance  of 
preaching  Christ  as  the  author  of  redemption;  for  they 
have  their  own  personal  experience  in  evidence  of  its  neces- 
sity ;  but  they  are  n^t  proportionally  alive  to  the  necessity  of 
divine  influence  as  the  means  of  usefulness;  for  of  that  they 
have  not  the  same  evidence.  Their  conversion  to  Christ 
as  individuals,  was  scarcely  more  necessary  to  answer  the 
first  aim  of  the  gospel,  in  their  own  salvation,  than  their 
conversion  to  the  Spirit,  in  their  collective  capacity,  is  ne- 
cessary to  answer  the  second,  in  the  salvation  of  others.  I 
say  their  conversion  to  the  Spirit ; — for  the  change  neces- 
sary has  all  the  characteristics  of  conversion  ; — conviction 
of  guilt  in  neglecting  his  agency,  a  perception  of  his  ne- 
cessity and  suitableness,  and  earnest  applications  for  his 
heavenly  influence, 

That  a  doctrine  of  divine  influence  has  a  place  in  the 
creed  of  the  faithful  we  admit ;  but  it  is  one  thing  to  assent 
to  its  truth  and  importance,  and  a  very  different  thing  to 
have  a  deep  and  practical  persuasion  of  it.  That  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  at  present  imparted  to  the  church  to  a  certain  de 
gree,  is  evident  from  its  existence.  For  every  believer  is 
the  production  of  the  Spirit;  carries  about  in  his  own  per- 
son signatures  and  proofs  of  divine  operations ;  and  thus 
forms  an  epitome  and  pledge  of  the  eventual  conversion  of 
the  world.  But  as  to  the  measure  in  which  his  divine  in- 
fluence is  afforded — who  has  not  deplored  its  scantiness? 
From  the  earliest  dawn  of  the  reformation  to  the  present 
hour,  this  has  been  the  great  burden  of  the  church.  What 
writer  of  even  ordinary  piety,  has  not  bewailed  and  record" 


XXX  PREFACE. 

ed  it  as  the  standing  reproach  and  grief  of  his  day  ? 
Look  back — and  what  do  you  behold? — a  procession  of 
mourners,  nearly  all  the  living  and  eminent  piety  of  the 
time,  dressed  in  penitential  sackcloth,  moving  through  the 
cemetery  of  a  church  as  through  a  Golgotha,  and  exclaim- 
ing in  tears,  '  Come  from  the  four  winds,  O  breath,  and 
breathe  upon  these  slain  that  they  may  live.7  What  do 
you  behold  1  '  the  priests,  the  ministers  of  the  Lord,  sanc- 
tifying a  fast,  calling  a  solemn  assembly,'  lamenting  that 
so  few  attend  the  solemn  call,  and  then  advancing,  a  mourn- 
ful train,  casting  themselves  down,  and  lying  prostrate  at 
the  foot  of  the  throne  of  grace,  and  as  the  representatives 
of  the  church,  exclaiming,  '  Behold,  O  Lord,  a  poor  com- 
pany of  creatures  gasping  for  life  !  thy  Spirit  is  vital 
breath  ;  we  are  ready  to  die,  if  thy  Spirit  breathe  not.  Pity 
thine  own  offspring,  thou  Father  of  mercies.  Take  from 
us,  keep  from  us,  what  thou  wilt,  but  Oh,  withhold  not 
thine  own  Spirit.1  Such  were  the  actual  terms  in  which 
the  great  and  pious  Howe  led  the  supplications  of  a  sol- 
emn assembly,  in  his  day,  convened  to  cry  for  the  Spirit. 
And  has  it  not  been  on  the  lips  of  the  mourners  in  Zion, 
an  unbroken  procession  ever  since  ?  And  does  it  not  ex 
press  the  sense  of  the  church  in  the  present  day  ?  As  we 
have  fallen  into  the  train,  and  brought  up  the  rear  of  the 
mourning  suppliants,  have  we  not  deplored  the  absence  of 
the  Spirit  as  the  great  affliction  of  the  church,  and  implor- 
ed his  impartation  as  our  great  want,  our  only  remedy? 

But  'the  Spirit  will  be  poured  out  from  on  high' — would 
that  the  importunity  and  loud  cries  of  the  church,  warrant- 
ed the  expectation  that  the  event  were  near  !  And  when  he 
does  descend,  among  the  many  blessed  effects  which  will 
accrue,  this  doubtless  will  be  one — that  the  teaching  of 
Christ,  concerning  him,  will  be  hailed  and  studied  as  if 
it  were  a  new  revelation:  will  be  traversed  and  explored 


PREFACE.  XXXI 

like  a  newly-discovered  continent.  The  reasons  of  Christ 
for  amplifying  the  subject,  and  for  laying  so  much  stress 
on  it,  will  then  be  felt  in  the  inmost  soul;  each  of  his  de- 
clarations concerning  it  will  seem  to  expand  into  a  page, 
and  be  consulted  as  a  charter  fresh  from  heaven  ;  promises 
which  we  now  repeat  with  freezing  accents  will  then  burn 
on  our  lips,  and  be  pleaded  with  an  earnestness  not  to  be 
denied  ;  but  which  will  open  the  windows  of  heaven  for 
the  emission  of  still  larger  out-pourings  of  the  Spirit. 
In  that  section  of  the  Second  Essay,  which  treats  of 

*  The  Originality  of  our  Lord's  Teaching  concerning  the 
Holy  Spirit,'  I   have   remarked    in  the  introduction,  that, 

*  during  the  long  silence  of  the  Divine  Oracle,  in  the  space 
which  intervened   from   the  last  words  of  Malachi  to  the 
coming  of  Christ,  we  know  not  comparatively  what  opin- 
ions grew  up  and  prevailed.     It  is  only  reasoning  on  the 
known  principles  of  humanity  to  say,  that  when  the  living 
voice  of  inspiration  had  ceased  to  speak,  the  sacred  volume 
was  much  more  likely  to  receive  the  undivided  attention  of 
the  church  than  before.     And  with  a  volume  so  seminal  of 
all   truth,  so  constantly   whispering  in  the  ear  of  hope,  as 
the    Bible,  who    can   say  what  approaches  were  made  to 
many  evangelical  doctrines  ?  what  prophets  of  hope  arose  1 
And  when  once  opinions,  to  which  the  wants  or  aspirations 
of  the  soul   respond,  have   been  broached,  who  can  say  to 
what  consolidation,  and  stability  they  may  attain  ?  .  .  .  .  By 
what  process  then  shall   we  ascertain    how   much  of  the 
gospel  is  an  absolute  origination  ;  or  how  much  is  a  mere 
adoption  and  authorization  of  pre-existing  opinions'? ' 

Having  subsequently  perused  a  translation  of  Tholuck's 
1  HINTS  ON  THE  IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  STUDY  OF  THE 
OLD  TESTAMENT,'  I  have  learned  that  it  is  a  favorite  hy- 
pothesis of  the  neological  school,  that  '  the  Jewish  religion 
coalescing  with  the  Persian  doctrines,  was  brought  to  per- 


XXXU  PREFACE. 

fection,  and  thus  served  to  lay  the  foundation  for  the  new 
order  of  things  which  Christ  introduced.  This  appeals 
to  us  to  have  been  the  true  origin  of  these  doctrines. 
Providence  designed  that  they  should  be  disseminated,  just 
before  the  advent  of  Christ,  in  order  that  he,  who  was 
merely  to  bring  the  new  Spirit,  and,  by  means  of  this,  to 
destroy  the  veil  of  the  law,  and  to  illustrate  these  doctrines 
need  furnish  no  system  of  doctrines,  but  merely  announce 
by  his  precepts  and  his  life,  the  one  great  doctrine ;  God 
hath  so  loved  the  world.  Those  post-Babylonian  doctrines 
were  illustrated,  however,  by  the  instructions  of  Jesus  and 
the  apostles,  to  such  a  degree,  that  they  appear  in  an  en- 
tirely new  and  spiritual  light,  as  the  poor  and  disembodied 
spirit,  escaped  from  the  lifeless  body  of  the  Rabbinical 
system.' 

Now  the  difference  between  these  two  quotations  is  so 
essential,  that  to  spend  a  moment  in  pointing  it  out,  may 
perhaps  be  considered  superfluous.  But  lest  my  statement 
should  have  the  effect,  in  however  small  a  degree,  of  pre- 
paring the  mind  of  an  unwary  reader  for  the  reception  of 
the  neology  contained  in  the  quotation  with  which  it  is 
contrasted,  I  will  take  the  liberty  of  remarking,  that  while 
the  tendency  of  the  latter  is  to  detract  from  the  value  both 
of  our  Lord's  teaching  and  of  the  Old  Testament  doctrines, 
by  admitting  the  philosophy  of  paganism  to  share  the  hon- 
ors of  divine  revelation,  the  object  of  the  former  is  to  vin- 
dicate to  the  Old  Testament  the  claim  of  having  suggested 
the  various  evangelical  phrases  and  opinions,  which  had 
obtained  about  the  time  of  our  Lord's  appearance,  and  to 
assert  for  him  the  honor  of  having  selected  and  authenti- 
cated such  of  those  opinions  as  were  true,  and  of  having 
lurned  them  into  inspired  doctrines. 

The  reader  is  probably  aware  that,  during  the  interval 
which  elapsed  between  the  cessation  of  the  Old  Testament 


PREFACE.  XXX111 

oracle,  and  the  advent  of  Christ,  many  new  terms  came 
into  use;  especially  new  epithets  for  designating  the  ex- 
pected Messiah  and  the  Holy  Spirit ; — such,  for  instance, 
as  the  names,  Logos  and  Paraclete;  and,  also,  that  vari- 
ous theological  opinions  prevailed ;  which,  while  they 
pleaded  an  Old  Testament  origin,  were  taught,  if  taught 
there  at  all,  only  by  inference  and  suggestion.  Now 
when  a  person  first  becomes  aware  of  this  fact,  and  discov- 
ers also  that  some  of  these  terms  and  opinions  were  adopt- 
ed by  Christ,  and  incorporated  by  him  into  his  New  Tes- 
tament record,  he  may  be  tempted  to  depreciate  in  thought 
the  divinity  and  originality  of  these  particular  parts  of  our 
Lord's  teaching. 

But  let  him  reflect,  first,  that  as  to  the  divine  origin  of 
these  particular  truths, — the  persons  who  first  announced 
them,  no  doubt,  derived  the  idea  of  them  from  the  ancient 
scriptures,  and  could  have  pointed  to  the  precise  passage 
or  passages,  which,  in  their  opinion,  warranted,  the  idea. 
And.  secondly,  as  to  our  Lord' 's  claim  to  originality  in 
teaching  the  particular  truths — this  becomes  a  question 
of  mere  words.  For  though  originality  was  no  longer 
possible,  in  the  sense  of  novelty,  still  his  office  was  origin- 
al— he  was  the  first  to  announce  these  truths  as  divine. 

Suppose,  for  example,  an  inspired  prophet  were  now  to 
appear  in  the  church,  to  add  a  supplement  to  the  canonical 
books, — what  a  Babel  of  opinions  would  he  find  existing 
on  almost  every  theological  subject ! — and  how  highly 
probable  is  it  that  his  ministry  would  consist,  or  seem  to 
consist,  in  the  mere  selection  and  ratification  of  such  of 
these  opinions  as  accorded  with  the  mind  of  God.  Abso- 
lute originality  would  seem  to  be  almost  impossible.  The 
inventive  mind  of  man  has  already  bodied  forth  specula- 
tive opinions  in  almost  every  conceivable  form  ;  forestalling 
and  robbing  the  future  of  its  fair  proportion  of  novelties  ; 
C 


XXXIV  PREFACE. 

and  leaving  little  more,  even  to  a  divine  messenger,  than 
the  office  of  taking  some  of  these  opinions,  and  impressing 
them  with  the  seal  of  heaven.  Imagine  him  to  choose  for 
his  theme — that  vinum  dczmonum  of  the  church  in  every 
age — the  subject  of  a  millenium  ;  and  may  it  not  be  confi- 
dently affirmed,  that  whatever  his  doctrine  might  be,  an 
anticipation  of  it,  if  not  the  identical  doctrine  itself,  has 
appeared  already  among  the  thousand  theories  which  the 
church  has  heard  on  the  subject?  Yet  how  important  the 
office  which  would  still  devolve  on  him,  in  evoking  the 
one  truth,  and  dispersing  the  multiplied  attendant  errors; 
and  how  worthy  of  a  teacher  sent  from  God.  Humanly 
speaking,  the  task  of  the  aged  seer,  in  selecting  from  the 
eleven  sons  of  Jesse  the  future  king  of  Israel,  was  easy, 
compared  with  the  task  of  him  who  has  to  choose  from  a 
multitude  of  speculative  opinions,  all  of  which  are  specious, 
and  popular,  and  possessed  of  an  apparent  likeness,  the 
one  heaven-born  truth,  and  anoint  it  for  the  Lord. 

Now  such  was  the  relation  in  which  our  Lord  may  be 
said  to  have  stood  to  some  of  the  doctrines  of  the  New 
Testament.  Originality,  in  the  sense  of  novelty,  was,  on 
these  particular  subjects  impossible  :  for  the  teeming  mind 
of  man,  quickened  to  activity  by  some  hint  of  scripture, 
had  already  occupied  the  ground  with  theories  of  every 
grade  of  merit,  and  opinions  adapted  to  every  taste.  With 
these,  hypothetically  speaking,  the  Saviour  might  be  ac- 
quainted, or  he  might  not.  On  the  supposition  that  he  did 
not  know  them,  the  doctrine  he  taught  on  either  of  these 
subjects,  however  familiar  it  might  already  have  been  to 
human  ears,  was  unborrovved,  original,  and  emphatically 
his  own;  it  had  no  other  channel  in  its  descent  from  the 
celestial  throne  to  the  human  heart,  but  his  own  inspired 
lips.  On  the  supposition  that  he  knew  them, — his  office, 
at  least,  was  original,  and  equally  dignified:  for  still  he 


P  R  E  F  A  C  K.  XXXV 

proclaimed  the  particular  truth,  not  because  man  had  pat- 
ronized it,  but  because  he  knew  it  to  be  the  true  saying  of 
God.  And  more  than  that,  he  redeemed  it  from  the  base 
companionship  of  error,  and  made  it  free  of  the  universe. 
He  not  meiely  rescued  it  from  the  gloomy  region  of  doubt, 
but  enabled  it  to  shine  in  its  own  light,  and  to  illuminate 
the  surrounding  darkness.  If  he  found  it  one  of  the  mul- 
titude,!^ raised  it  to  the  throne.  If  he  found  it  a  guess, 
he  left  it  a  doctrine — a  living  and  incorporated  member  of 
the  immortal  body  of  truth.  If  he  found  it  an  outcast,  he 
took  it  within  the  pale  and  royalty  of  truth,  and  surround- 
ed it  with  the  awful  sanctions  of  the  God  of  truth.  He 
proved  himself  to  be  the  Word  and  the  Wisdom  of  God. 

Had  space  permitted,  it  was  my  intention  to  have  added 
two  sections  to  this  second  essay  ; — one,  on  the  Originality 
of  our  Lord's  teaching  on  Faith  : — and  the  other,  on  the 
Originality  of  his  teaching  on  the  comparative  claims  of 
Heaven  and  Earth.  The  former  might  easily  be  expan- 
ded into  a  volume,  and  could  scarcely  be  illustrated  in  less. 
The  latter  requires  only  a  specimen:  which,  as  the  pre- 
face has  already  become  so  miscellaneous,  I  will  take  the 
liberty  of  giving. 

Much  of  the  preaching  of  Jesus  was  occupied  in  adjust- 
ing the  claims  between  heaven  and  earth  ;  so  frequently 
did  he  return  to  this  theme,  and  so  conspicuous  a  place  did 
he  assign  to  it  in  his  discourses,  that  it  may  be  said  to  be 
one  of  their  distinguishing  features.  A  prevailing  charac- 
teristic of  man,  as  pourtrayed  in  scripture,  is  an  inordinate 
attachment  to  the  world.  Sin  having  expelled  from 
his  heart  the  love  of  God,  the  love  of  the  world  has  rushed 
into  the  vacuum,  and  made  it  impossible  for  any  but  om- 
nipotence to  dislodge  it.  Having  lost  that  organ  of  spirit- 
ual vision,  which,  by  keeping  another  world  in  view  in 
rivalry  with  this,  would  have  preserved  the  balance  of  his 


XXX  Vi  PREFACE. 

affections  even,  the  present  is  left  to  tyrannize  over  him 
with  all  the  advantage  of  a  power  which  is  ever  visible, 
ever  at  hand,  soliciting  him  and  making  itself  necessary  to 
him  in  a  thousand  different  ways  ;  while  the  only  rival 
which  it  has  to  dread  is  not  only  invisible,  but  incalculably 
remote;  and  having  thus  sustained  the  loss  of  a  world, 
having  thus  become  reduced  in  spiritual  wealth  by  the 
loss  of  a  whole  order  of  ennobling  objects,  he  not  only 
pours  out  his  affections  on  the  unworthiest  things  that 
offer,  but  he  has  literally  idolized  the  most  contemptible. 
Most  graphically  is  he  represented  in  the  word  of  God  as 
bearing  the  image  of  the  earthy;  his  very  mind  has  be- 
come materialized  ;  instead  of  being  pictured  over  with 
celestial  imagery,  it  only  contains  the  portraiture  of  the 
world  ;  in  all  its  chambers  of  imagery  are  depictured  and 
burnt  in  the  debasing  abominations  of  earth.  The  mind, 
which  with  one  sweep  of  its  pinions  should  have  reached 
the  stars,  settles  down  in  the  dust;  his  affections,  which 
were  meant  to  rise  and  be  diffused  over  an  infinite  circum- 
ference of  which  God  is  the  centre,  let  themselves  down, 
and  labor  to  accommodate  themselves  to  an  indivisible 
point,  a  fugitive  atom.  As  if  an  anchor  were  fixed  in  the 
centre,  his  bosom  is  enchained  to  the  earth.  The  material 
particles  of  which  the  globe  consists,  do  not  obey  the  law 
by  which  they  cohere  more  constantly,  than  man  endeav- 
ors to  accommodate  himself  to  the  world  as  his  centre  of 
moral  gravity. 

Now  the  Saviour  addressed  himself  to  the  task  of  cor- 
recting this  evil.  Entering  the  mart  of  the  busy  world, 
where  nothing  is  heard  but  the  monotonous  hum  of  the 
traders  in  vanity,  he  lifts  up  his  voice  like  the  trump  of 
God,  and  seeks  to  break  the  spell  which  infatuates  them, 
while  he  exclaims,  'What  shall  it  profit  a  man  if  he  gain 
the  whole  world  and  lose  his  own  soul  ?  or  what  shall  he 


PREFACE.  XXXV11 

give  in  exchange  for  his  soul  1  Were  all  sublunary  glory 
laid  at  your  feet,  let  a  few  years  expire  and  death  would 
force  you  away  from  your  world,  and  then  a  few  years 
more,  and  your  world,  and  all  that  is  in  it,  would  be  burnt 
up;  but  your  soul,  your  immortal  soul — what  can  com- 
pensate for  the  loss  of  that  ? '  He  calls  for  that  nobler 
world  they  had  lost  from  their  hemisphere,  and  brings  it 
again  within  the  range  of  their  vision.  He  takes  them  to 
the  threshold  of  the  infinite,  and  shows  it  flushed  in  one 
part  with  living  glories,  arid  in  another  burning  with  the 
fiercest  flames  of  wrath;  while  he  assures  them  that  in 
one  or  the  other  of  these  states  they  will  shortly  be  fixed 
forever.  *  Watch  therefore,'  saith  he,  'for  ye  know  not 
when  the  time  is.' 

Having  thrown  open  to  view  that  interminable  duration, 
and  compelled  them  to  see  that  they  were  actually  approach- 
ing it,  he  proceeds  to  adjust  its  momentous  claims  in  har- 
mony with  the  duties  of  the  life  that  now  is.  It  might 
have  been  apprehended  that  the  vision  of  eternity,  if  once 
beheld,  would  utterly  incapactate  us  for  the  affairs  of  time; 
that  the  infinite  grandeur  of  the  future,  having  suffered  so 
total  an  obscuration  from  the  littleness  of  the  present, 
would  have  taken  revenge  on  that  littleness,  by  henceforth 
engrossing  our  every  thought.  But  the  Saviour  did  not 
come  as  the  avenging  champion  of  eternity,  to  annihilate 
time  and  its  appropriate  interests.  Having  deposed  it  from 
its  usurped  supremacy,  he  takes  it  by  the  hand,  and  assigns 
it  its  place  and  its  duties  as  a  subject.  He  aims  to  impreg- 
nate every  moment  of  life  with  endless  results.  Having 
weeded  life  of  its  vanities,  he  commands  us  to  cultivate  it 
with  all  that  is  useful  and  precious  as  fruit  for  the  heavenly 
garner.  He  would  have  every  moment  of  life  to  be  so 
passed,  as  to  fructify  into  an  age  of  pleasant  recollections. 

That  eternity  might   not  be  an  object  of  mere  barren 


PREFACE. 


contemplation,  he  has  so  revealed  it  that  its  hallowing  light 
falls  upon  fields  of  activity  and  usefulness  which  before 
were  involved  in  darkness  ;  every  thing  conducive  to  our 
real  interest,  in  every  relation  of  life,  receives  its  counten- 
ance, and  rejoices  in  its  sanction.  If  he  finds  us  lost  in  in- 
dolent musing  on  the  future,  he  breaks  up  our  vacant-eyed 
reverie  by  the  startling  monition,  'Why  stand  ye  here 
all  the  day  idle?  Work  while  it  is  day,  for  the  night  com- 
eth  wherein  no  man  can  work.'  That  eternity  might  not 
overwhelm  us  by  its  solemnities,  he  has  not  only  softened 
its  aspect,  and  made  it  welcome  as  the  face  of  a  friend, 
he  also  engages  our  attention  to  daily  duties  which  hold 
us  in  a  state  of  healthful  activity.  Our  life,  in  his  hands, 
is  converted  into  a  lamp,  which,  like  the  virgins  of  the 
parable,  or  the  priests  of  the  temple,  we  are  to  keep  bright 
and  burning.  Our  various  endowments  are  so  many 
talents,  which  the  Lord  of  all  expects  us  to  multiply 
by  constant  use.  He  calls  us  to  be  the  almoners  and  agents 
of  providence,  to  *  the  poor  who  are  always  with  us;'  mo- 
dels of  correctness  in  all  the  relations  of  life ;  and  centres 
of  light  and  usefulness  wherever  we  move.  It  is  necessary 
that  celestial  observations  should  be  taken  in  order  to  con- 
struct a  terrestrial  chart ;  and  having  a  chart  to  consult 
thus  accurately  formed,  the  skilful  mariner  is  prepared  to 
navigate  the  wastes  of  ocean  with  tranquil  confidence.  If 
the  view  we  entertain  of  eternity  disqualifies  us  for  the 
duties  of  life,  it  is  not  to  be  traced  to  the  gospel  of  Christ ; 
he  meant  not  that  it  should  haunt  us  as  a  terror,  but  accom- 
pany us  as  a  guide  :  nor  will  he  accept  the  convulsive  ser- 
vice which  it  may  occasionally  extort  from  us,  by  alarming 
us  into  a  spasm  of  fear.  He  calmly  enquires,  'Are  there 
not,  twelve  hours  in  the  day  ?  Does  not  the  day  of  life, 
short  as  it  is,  contrasted  with  eternity,  contain  time  suffi- 
cient, if  properly  employed,  for  all  that  is  truly  valuable?' 


PREFACE.  XXXIX 

And  having  engaged  us  in  his  service,  and  pointed  out  our 
duty,  he  gives  us  a  glimpse  of  eternity  to  quicken  the 
pulse  of  activity,  and  expects  us  to  distribute  our  agency 
as  equally  as  possible  over  the  remaining  hours  of  time. 

But  the  liability  of  eternity  to  paralyze  the  active  duties 
of  time  is  not  to  be  named,  as  a  danger,  compared  with  the 
fatal  and  universal  propensity  of  men  to  subordinate  the 
claims  of  the  future  to  the  affairs  of  the  present.  While 
their  enlightened  judgment  compels  them  to  concede  the 
point  of  superiority  to  heaven,  their  depraved  heart  is  for 
giving  the  practical  precedence  to  earth ;  and  the  result  of 
this  variance  is  an  attempted  compromise  between  the  two 
claimants.  But  against  such  an  accommodation,  the  Re- 
deemer enters  his  protest ;  appealing  to  the  tribunal  of 
common  sense*  he  exclaims,  *  No  man  can  serve  two  mas-,  ... 
ters,  whose  interests  clash.'  The  experiment  has  been 
made  and  repeated  in  every  form,  and  in  every  age ;  and 
he  solemnly  avers,  with  the  confidence  of  one  who  knows 
that  it  has  failed  as  often  as  it  has  been  made,  and  will 
prove  eternally  impracticable,  'Ye  cannot  serve  God  and 
mammon.'  Passing  into  the  sanctuary,  and  marking  the 
worldiness  of  the  assembled  hearers,  he  shows  how  ne- 
cessarily, in  such  soil,  the  seed  of  the  kingdom  must  prove 
unfruitful.  Visiting  the  place  of  gain,  and  contrasting 
the  burden  of  thick  clay  which  the  worshipper  of  mam- 
mon carries,  with  the  narrowness  of  the  entrance  to  the 
way  of  life,  he  exclaims,  in  accents  of  deep  commiseration, 
'  How  hardly  shall  they  that  have  riches  enter  into  the 
kingdom  of  heaven!'  Penetrating  into  the  inmost  circle 
of  domestic  life,  and  arresting  the  inmates  in  the  midst  of 
their  household  cares,  he  calls  them  to  his  side,  and  turns 
on  them  a  look  of  pity  as  he  reminds  them,  that  while  they 
are  careful  and  cumbered  about  many  things,  '  one  thing 
is  needful.'  He  even  lifts  the  curtain  of  eternity,  and  bids 


xl 


PREFACE. 


us  approach  and  listen,  while  the  voice  of  Dives  from  the 
deeps  of  hell,  and  the  replies  of  Abraham  from  the  realms 
of  light  pronounce  the  moral  of  the  tale  of  life.  And  taking 
his  stand  on  the  highway  of  the  world,  and  surveying  the 
busy  crowds  as  they  pass  and  repass,  each  one  as  eager 
as  if  he  had  just  discovered  the  secret  of  happiness  after  a 
thousand  failures,  and  were  about  to  give  it  an  instant  tri- 
al, he  points  them  upwards,  and  reminds  them  that  the 
good  they  seek  is  there  :  that  there  is  one  thing  to  which 
every  thing  else  desirable  is  appended  ;  and  that  he  ex- 
horts them  to  '  seek  first.' 

It  is  the  misfortune  of  some  to  be  afflicted  with  that  kind 
of  defective  sight,  which  prevents  them  from  seeing  to  an 
ordinary  distance;  they  are  unable  to  distinguish  the  most 
towering  and  colossal  object  if  placed  at  a  short  remove, 
while  the  merest  atom  brought  close  to  the  eye  is  magni- 
fied as  with  the  power  of  a  microscope.  An  affliction 
analogous  to  this  in  the  moral  sight,  but  pregnant  with  in- 
comparable greater  danger,  is  the  universal  malady  of 
mankind  ;  and  our  Lord  insists  on  the  urgency  of  its  re- 
moval. He  finds  them  mistaking  phantoms  for  realities, 
and  realities  for  phantoms  ;  calling  an  atom  a  world,  and  a 
world  an  atom  ;  practising  on  themselves  an  endless  suc- 
cession of  delusions  ;  arid  he  gives  them  the  alternative  of 
a  remedy  or  death.  He  finds  them  absorbed  in  providing 
for  the  temporal  future,  and  he  urges  them,  as  they  respect 
their  own  rationality,  not  to  omit  eternity  from  their  reckon- 
ing. He  approaches  them  while  gazing  on  the  near  per- 
spective of  time,  and  by  raising  and  extending  the  point  o.f 
sight  he  adds  eternity  to  the  view,  and  leaves  them  lost  in 
the  contemplation  of  a  boundless  futurity.  In  all  his  ad- 
dresses on  the  future,  he  does  not  forget  that  we  are  mortal  ; 
but  neither  will  he  allow  us  in  our  attentions  tD  the  present 
to  forget  that  we  are  immortal.  As  the  worshippers  of 


PREFACE.  xli 

mammon  make  religion  subservient  to  the  world,  so  he  re- 
quires the  worshippers  of  God  to  subordinate  the  world  to 
religion.  Instead  of  exhausting  ourselves  in  efforts  after 
the  bread  which  perisheth,  he  reminds  us  that  there  is  an- 
gels' food,  and  urges  us  to  put  forth  our  chief  endeavors 
after  that.  He  finds  us  as  in  the  midst  of  a  spacious  re- 
pository, crowded  with  an  infinite  variety  of  objects ;  some 
of  which  are  adapted  to  the  body  only,  while  others  might 
form  a  rich  dowry  for  an  immortal  soul :  some  of  them 
things  that  perish  in  the  using,  and  others  of  them  things 
that  form  the  gold  and  currency  of  heaven,  things  on 
which  God  has  stamped  his  image  and  superscription,  and 
inscribed  an  infinite  value.  But  however  diversified  their 
character,  he  finds  them  each  soliciting  the  first  and  high- 
est place  in  our  esteem  ;  and  aware  that  we  are  in  danger 
of  lavishing  our  affections — those  precious  things  which 
if  given  to  God  would  bring  us  heaven  in  return — of  wast- 
ing them  on  less  than  nothing  and  vanity,  he  draws  near 
and  expostulates,  and  entreats  us  that  we  cheat  not  our 
souls  of  eternal  happiness  by  providing  for  them  only  an 
earthly  portion,  but  that  we  select  for  them  a  good  spiritual 
and  immortal  like  themselves,  suited  to  supply  its  impor- 
ant  wants,  and  to  gratify  all  their  large  capacities.  '  Lay 
not  up  treasures  on  earth,'  saith  he,  'where  moth  and  rust 
doth  corrupt,  and  where  thieves  break  through  and  steal : 
but  lay  up  for  yourselves  treasures  in  heaven,  where  neither 
moth  nor  rust  doth  corrupt,  and  where  thieves  do  not  break 
through  and  steal.' 

And  by  exhorting  us  to  establish  our  principal  interest 
in  heaven,  he  actually  consults  our  peace  on  earth  :  'For 
where  your  treasure  is,'  he  adds,  'there  will  your  heart  be 
also.'  By  choosing  a  heavenly  treasure,  our  character 
and  hopes,  which  are  invariably  modified  by  the  object  of 
our  paramount  regard,  will  partake  of  its  celestial  attri- 


Xlii  PREFACE. 

butes:  for  it  is  both  ennobling  in  itself,  and  lodged  in  the 
only  part  of  the  universe  which  is  exempt  from  calamity 
and  change  ;  so  that,  while  others  partake  of  the  littleness, 
agitation,  and  debasement,  which  belong  to  their  earthly 
gods,  we  shall  receive,  by  an  anticipation,  an  impress  of 
the  greatness,  and  security,  and  stability  of  heaven;  while, 
at  the  same  time,  our  temporal  mercies  will  be  enjoyed 
with  a  superior  relish,  since  we  should  feel  that  the  less  of 
them  would  leave  us  still  in  the  possession  of  our  real 
treasure  entire  and  secure.  In  the  prospect  of  a  national 
convulsion,  it  is  not  uncommon  for  the  wealthy  to  trans- 
mit their  property  for  security  into  other  lands.  And,  O, 
were  there  a  country  on  earth  perfectly  exempt  from  all 
the  changes  which  endanger  property,  that  would  be  the 
envied  land  in  which  all  would  aim  to  invest  their  riches. 
But  that  blessed  region,  not  to  be  found  on  the  face  of  the 
wide  earth,  actually  exists  in  the  kingdom  of  God.  Yes, 
by  throwing  open  to  us  the  gates  of  a  heavenly  commerce, 
he  would  give  scope  to  our  loftiest  aims,  security  to  our 
choicest  treasures,  arid  objects  to  our  most  capacious  de- 
sires. Here,  the  affluent  may  embark  their  abundance  : — 
instead  of  living  for  themselves  let  them  live  for  God,  and 
they  will  be  remitting  their  property  to  a  world  where  it 
shall  accumulate  with  abundant  interest;  they  will  be  lay- 
ing up  a  store  for  the  future,  on  which  they  may  live  splen- 
didly and  gloriously  for  ever  :  they  will  be  placing  uncer- 
tain riches  in  a  safe  repository,  and  transmitting  them  into 
certain  wealth.  Let  them  acquit  themselves  as  faithful 
stewards  of  the  great  householder  ;  and  as  they  dispense 
their  wealth,  it  will  direct  its  flight  towards  heaven,  bear- 
ing on  its  wings  the  prayers  and  benedictions  of  those 
they  have  benefitted.  Having  made  to  themselves  friends 
with  the  mammon  of  unrighteousness,  when  they  die, 


PREFACE.  Xliii 

those  friends  will  welcome  them  into  everlasting*  habita- 
tions. Here  the  humblest  believer  may  employ  his  penu- 
ry : — and  he  will  find  eventually  that  his  single  mite,  his 
cup  of  cold  water,  or  his  one  talent,  consecrated  to  God, 
has  augmented  into  a  treasure,  exceeding  his  powers  of 
computation.  For  every  sacrifice  we  make  in  his  service, 
he  guarantees  to  requite  us, — not  indeed  as  of  debt :  this 
the  magnitude  of  the  requital  shows ;  but  of  his  own  exu- 
berant munificence,  he  promises  to  repay  us  a  hundred 
fold  in  the  present  life,  and  in  the  world  to  come,  life  ever- 
lasting. Every  struggle  against  sin,  every  effort  in  the 
cause  of  benevolence,  every  holy  principle  exerted  for  God, 
he  pronounces  an  element  of  future  blessedness,  and  con- 
stitutes a  claimant  on  his  grace  at  the  recompense  of  the 
just.  Whatever  is  transmitted  by  the  soul  to  the  world 
above,  is  placed  under  the  guardianship  of  omnipotence,  is 
laid  up  securely  by  the  throne  of  God.  His  seat  is  the 
centre  of  a  circumference,  within  which  nothing  that  im- 
pairs or  destroys,  can  by  any  possibility  intrude  ;  and 
which  itself  remains  unmoved  and  immutable,  while  all 
besides  is  fluctuation  and  change, 

It  is  not  easy  to  speak  of  the  claims  of  heaven  and  earth, 
as  needing  adjustment,  without  seeming  to  countenance  an 
erroneous  impression  that  they  are  naturally  at  variance. 
But  let  it  be  borne  in  mind,  that  originally  they  were  one. 
The  only  quarrel  which  eternity  can  have  with  time,  is, 
when  it  usurps  an  ascendancy  which,  by  inverting  all  or- 
der, and  doing  violence  to  the  first  principles  of  our  nature, 
renders  the  happiness  of  the  soul  impossible.  Let  the 
present  defer  to  the  future,  let  it  fall  into  its  proper  place 
as  the  handmaid  of  immortality,  and  instantly  they  are  one 
again  :  each  is  seen  reciprocating  its  influence,  and  lend- 
ing its  aid  to  the  other,  to  secure  to  us  a  blessed  futurity 
and  to  prepare  us  for  it.  But  though  all  hostile,  opposition 


xliv 


PREFACE. 


terminates  with  this  new  adjustment,  it  is  not  to  be  denied 
that  difficulty  still  remains, — the  natural  and  unavoidable 
difficulty  of  keeping  the  world  from  that  dangerous  domi- 
nation which,  having  once  enjoyed,  it  is  ever  impatient  to 
regain.  New  habits  are  to  be  formed,  powerful  propensi- 
ties are  to  be  held  at  bay,  old  and  indulged  inclinations 
are  to  be  denied,  and  enemies  which  we  fondly  thought  we 
had  laid  dead  at  our  feet,  suddenly  starting  into  hostility 
again,  are  again  to  be  coped  with  and  vanquished  ;  this  is 
attended  with  a  disheartening  sense  of  difficulty  which 
some  have  no  sooner  tasted,  than  they  have  declined  the 
contest,  and  surrendered  themselves  at  discretion. 

Now,  while  our  Lord,  in  various  ways,  takes  cognizance 
of  this  struggle — for  one  of  his  great  excellencies,  as  the 
founder  of  a  new  religion,  was  the  most  transparent  sim- 
plicity and  candor — while  he  even  enlarges  on  the  conflict, 
presents  his  followers  with  a  plan  of  the  battle,  points 
out  its  imminent  hazards,  and  exhorts  them  before  en- 
tering on  it,  to  '  count  the  cost,'  he  at  the  same  time  assures 
them  of  such  supernatural  succors  as  shall  enable  their 
weakness  to  do  the  deeds  of  omnipotence,  and  make  per- 
severance infallible  success.  While  he  takes  them  to  an 
eminence,  and  shows  them  the  vast  confederacy  of  evil  ar- 
rayed against  them,  he  reminds  them  that  they  struggle  for 
an  invisible  world,  that  they  fight  in  fellowship  with  all  the 
children  of  the  light,  that  more  than  angels  are  in  their 
ranks,  for  he  promises  them  the  abundant  aid  of  the  Eter- 
nal Spirit.  Their  infirmities  maybe  numerous,  their  sins 
maybe  mighty,  their  ignorance  may  seem  invincible,  but 
an  almighty  agent  is  employed  for  the  special  purpose  of 
piercing  that  ignorance,  overpowering  that  sinfulness,  and 
surrounding  them  with  an  element  of  light  and  holiness. 

And  even  beyond  this,  as  he  leads  them  to  the  field  he 
proclaims,  '  Be  of  good  cheer,  I  have  overcome  the  world  ; 


PREFACE.  xv 

your  leader  is  a  conqueror,  advance  to  victory.7  The  his- 
tory of  the  first  Christians  proves  that  he  did  not  utter  this 
inspiring  address  in  vain.  By  this  sign  they  conquered. 
Though  the  world  within  and  the  world  without  were  in 
arms  against  them,  they  could  not  be  depressed.  They 
fought  in  the  presence  of  an  invisible  world.  They  sur- 
veyed the  whole  array  of  evil,  looked  calmly  in  the  face 
of  every  foe,  considered  all  that  might  happen,  but  to  this 
triumphant  conclusion  they  came,  'because  he  lives,  we 
shall  live  also.'  Like  the  earth  on  which  they  trod,  and 
which  continues  to  roll  on  in  its  orbit  unimpeded  by  the 
earthquakes  which  rend  it  and  carrying  all  its  atmosphere 
of  storms  along  with  it,  so  they,  animated  and  impelled  by 
the  love  of  Christ,  advanced  in  the  course  he  assigned 
them,  as  steadily  and  cheerfully  as  if  no  ills  within,  no 
storms  without,  assailed  them;  as  if  each  step  they  took 
were  across  the  heavenly  threshold,  and  in  sight  of  their 
appointed  thrones. 

Without  intending  or  hoping  to  supply  the  defects  of 
the  concluding  Essay — On  the  Practicalness  of  our  Lord's 
Teaching — it  may  not  be  inappropriate  to  close  this  prefa- 
tory miscellany  with  a  few  practical  remarks.  A  variety 
of  circumstances  seem  to  concur,  in  the  present  day,  aus- 
picious to  the  study  of  the  gospel  as  a  practical  science. 
To  or  three  of  these  circumstances  may  be  named. 

1.  The  great  error  of  religious  polemics,  hitherto  has 
consisted  in  arguing  from  compound  dependent  truths,  as 
if  they  were  ultimate.  The  application  of  the  inductive 
method  of  investigation,  however,  has  taught  us  that,  as  in 
philosophy,  so  in  theology,  we  as  yet  possess  but  few  ulti- 
mate truths; — that  principles  on  which*parties  have  heen 
accustomed  to  rely  with  the  greatest  confidence,  may  be 
easily  carried  to  a  point  where  they  break  down  and  fail 
us  ; — that  where  two  truths  appear  thus  to  clash,  it  is  evi- 


Xlvi  PREFACE. 

dent  they  cannot  be  ultimate; — but  that  each  of  them  hav- 
ing been  affirmed  by  the  God  of  truth  concerning  the  same 
thing,  there  is  no  doubt  whatever  of  their  eventual  coinci- 
dence in  one  comprehensive  and  axiomatic  truth.  In  the 
mean  time,  we  feel  that  we  must  wait  patiently,  pronounce 
less  confidently,  inquire  more  diffidently,  look  at  each  other 
more  charitably,  and,  leaving  the  polemics  of  piety  in  which 
we  differ,  unite  in  the  practice  of  piety  in  which  we  agree. 

2.  Religion  has    been  regarded  as  the  great  monopolist 
of  mystery;   the  popular  ignorance  of  the  wonders  of  nat- 
ural philosophy   has  favored   this   error:    and   the  conse- 
quence   has  too    commonly  been    that   the   neophyte    has 
brought  to  religion  a  speculative   spirit,  and  has  spent  that 
breath  in  disputing  which  might  otherwise  have  been  spent 
in  the  race  of  holiness.     It  is  a   subject  of  congratulation, 
however,  that  as  natural  science  advances,  she  is  throwing 
a  light  on   many  of  the  dark   things  of  scripture,    and,  at 
the  same  time,  multiplying  her   own  incredibilia ;  so  that 
wonder  and  scepticism  will  have  to  transport  their  throne 
from  the  region   of  religion    into   the  province  of  science. 
And  thus  much   of  the  strength  which  would  once   have 
been  wasted  in  speculation  and    controversy,  is  now  more 
usefully    employed  in   biblical   criticism,  and  the  enforce- 
ment of  piety,  in  acts  of  obedience  to  God,  and  in  deeds  of 
benevolence  to  man. 

3.  The  present   day  is  pre-eminently  distinguished,  in 
every  department,  social,  national,  and  universal  j  civil,  po- 
litical, and  philosophical,  by  practical  activity.     Religion, 
also,  is  up  and  doing.     In  every  thing  proper  to  her  pecu- 
liar province,  she  leads  the   van.     Once  more  she  appears 
before  the  world  in  her  appropriate  character,  militant  and 
aggressive.     Hushing  their  mutual   feuds,  she  is  leading 
her  followers  forth  to  the   conquest   of  a  world.     To   fall 
into  her  train,  is  to  swear  obedience  to  the  laws  of  Christ. 


PREFACE. 

4.  Another  characteristic  of  the  present  day,  whether 
for  good  or  for  evil,  we  stay  not  to  inquire,  is  its  cui  b:?w 
or  utilitarian  spirit.  By  this  test,  religion  glories  to  be 
examined.  Godliness  is  profitable  for  all  things.  In  can 
call  witnesses  from  all  classes  of  the  community;  bring 
•evidence  from  all  parts  of  the  earth;  and  constrain  even  its 
enemies  to  speak  well  of  it. 

It  is  the  boast  of  philosDphy,  that  any  accession  to  our 
knowledge  of  nature  is  sure,  sooner  or  later,  to  make  itself 
felt  in  some  practical  application  and  benefit.  Every  addi- 
tional truth  which  the  gospel  has  brought,  is  an  additional 
principle  of  holiness,  a  fresh  element  -of  virtue  ;  it  is,  in 
effect,  the  addition  of  a  new  mechanical  power  for  accel- 
erating the  motion  of  the  world  towards  God.  It  is  the 
pride  of  physical  science,  that  it  can  lead  the  very  elements 
captive,  subduing  the  most  powerful  energies  of  nature  to 
its  purposes,  and  employing  them  in  a  variety  of  useful 
ways.  Spiritual  triumphs,  analogous  to  this,  are  familiar 
to  the  gospel.  It  is  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  to 
every  one  that  beiieveth.  It  gathers  grapes  from  thorns, 
and  figs  from  thistles.  It  turns  the  wrath  of  man  into  a 
song  of  praise  worthy  the  harps  of  heaven.  It  takes  the 
passions,  the  most  intractable  and  unapproachable  human 
passions  yokes  them  to  the  car  of  duty,  and  henceforth 
they  run  in  the  way  of  obedience,  proud  to  grace  its  tri- 
umphs. From  elements  of  vice  and  wretchedness,  the  gos- 
pel forms  a  new  creature,  instinct  with  God.  These  are 
its  ordinary  effects;  but,  not  only  does  it  retain  all  its  orig- 
inal applicability  and  power  unimpaired  ;  it  only  waits  oc- 
casion to  develope  energies  of  unimagined  value,  and  to 
fil!  the  world  with  wonders  of  grace. 

Do  we  admire  its  practical  utility  and  power?  Then 
the  Saviour  turns  on  us  a  look  of  personal  application, 
while  he  repeats,  '  Whosoever  heareth  these  sayings  of 


Xlviii  PREFACE. 

mine,  and  doeth  them,  I  will  liken  him  unto  a  wise  man.' 
4  If  ye  know  these  things,  happy  are  ye  if  ye  do  *them.' 
His  sublimest  doctrines  were  all  practical.  He  would  not 
have  revealed  any  one  doctrine  contained  in  his  word  but 
for  its  moral  effect.  He  measured  beforehand  the  power 
of  each  to  sanctify,  and  according  to  its  tendency  to  illus- 
trate the  holiness  of  his  divine  nature,  and  to  restore  sanc- 
tity to  our  human,  he  assigned  it  an  appropriate  place  in 
the  system  of  truth.  The  moral  of  each  separately,  and 
of  all  combined,  is  simply  this,  '  Sin  no  more.'  Reader, 
such  are  the  beauty  and  excellence  of  the  seal  ;  what  is  its 
impression  on  yoirr  heart  and  life  ?  The  character  of  the 
Christian  should  be  monumental,  commemorative  of  the 
great  facts  and  truths  of  the  gospel ;  how  many  of  these 
facts  and  truths  could  be  learnt  from  your  character  or 
transcribed  from  your  life  ?  *  If  ye  love  me  keep  my 
commandments.' 
Epsom,  May,  1835. 


THE  GREAT  TEACHER. 


ESSAY  I . 

ON  THE  AUTHORITY  OP  OUR  LORD'S  TEACHING. 


'  He  spake  as  one  having  authority.' 


WHEN,  in  the  fulness  of  time,  the  eternal  Son  came 
forth  from  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  he  descended  to  a 
region  of  spiritual  darkness.  Ages  of  inquiry,  conjecture, 
and  effort  had  only  served  to  demonstrate  the  fact — that 
man,  '  by  searching  cannot  find  out  God.'  Legislators, 
philosophers,  and  poets — the  pride  of  their  time,  and  the 
boast  of  the  species — had  toiled  to  construct  a  system 
whose  top  should  reach  unto  heaven  ;  but  in  vain  ;  they 
built  only  to  the  clouds.  Reason,  confident  in  her 
resources,  had  sent  forth  her  sons  under  all  auspices,  and 
in  every  direction  :  but  they  returned,  defeated  and 
disheartened  ;  the  footsteps  of  truth  could  nowhere  be 
found.  In  vain  had  generation  after  generation  asked,  in 
its  way  to  oblivion,  <  What  is  truth  ?  '  The  devotee  had 
urged  the  inquiry  at  the  shrine  of  his  god  ;  the  priest,  at 
his  altar  of  sacrifice ;  the  sage  had  repeated  it  as  he 
walked  amidst  the  works  and  wonders  of  creation,;  but 
nothing  was  heard  in  reply;  nothing,  but  the  faint  and 
bewildering  echo,  '  What  is  truth  ?  '  Darkness  covered 
the  earth,  and  gross  darkness  the  minds  of  the  people. 

Nor  can  the  state  of  Judea  be  regarded  as  an  exception 
3 


THE       GREAT       T  E  A  (    HER. 

to  the  prevailing  gloom.  There,  indeed,  the  ancient  ora- 
cles of  God  were  yet  extant ;  but  their  still  small  voice, 
heard  only,  at  any  time,  by  the  attentive  listener,  had  been 
long  since  over-powered  and  silenced  by  the  dogmas  of 
their  professed  interpreters,  and  the  clamors  of  rival  sects. 
The  spiritual  import  of  the  sacred  volume,  like  the  seven- 
sealed  roll  of  the  Apocalypse,  had  long  been  closed  to  the 
Jew;  and  when  the  lion  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  prevailed  to 
open  it,  the  aversion  with  which  they  turned  from  the 
sight,  showed  how  unaccustomed  they  were  to  gaze  on  the 
truth.  The  darkness  was  universal  and  complete.  It  had 
settled  down,  like  a  pall,  over  the  face  of  the  whole  earth. 
Truth  looked  down  from  heaven  ;  but  from  no  part  could 
she  behold  her  image  reflected.  If  she  would  relieve  the 
gloom,  she  must  descend,  arid  shine,  and  dissipate  it  with 
her  actual  presence.  All  things  proclaimed  the  urgent 
necessity  that  the  world  should  be  visited  by  'a  teacher 
sent  from  God.' 

Not  only  did  this  awful  exigence  exist,  it  was  extensive- 
ly felt  and  acknowledged;  and,  by  many  of  the  more  en- 
lightened heathens,  a  Divine  Instructor  was  ardently  de- 
sired. In  illustration  of  this,  the  language  of  Plato  has 
been  often  cited  ;  nor  is  it  easy  to  conceive  of  any  thing 
more  conclusive  and  striking  than  his  picture  of  Socrates 
advising  his  pupil  to  forego  the  usual  sacrifices  until  a 
teacher  should  be  sent  from  on  high.  In  another  place, 
speaking  of  such  an  inspired  teacher,  he  represents,  with 
prophetic  sagacity  and  precision,  that  *  he  must  be  poor, 
and  void  of  all  qualifications  but  those  of  virtue  alone  ; 
that  a  wicked  world  would  not  bear  his  instructions  and  re- 
proofs; and  therefore,  within  three  or  four  years  after  he 
began  to  preach,  he  would  be  persecuted,  imprisoned, 
scourged,  and  at  last  put  to  death.'  In  this  remarkable 
passage,  we  behold  the  divine  philosopher,  rising  from  a 


HIS       A  U  T  11  O  R  I  T  Y  .  51 

mournful  survey  of  human  ignorance,  turning  with  an  air 
of  despondency  from  every  earthly  resource,  yet  eagerly 
thirsting  for  a  knowledge  of  God,  and  virtue,  and  futurity, 
till  his  thirst  grows  into  a  desire  for  celestial  aid,  and  his 
desire  matures  to  an  anticipation,  and  even  a  prediction, 
which  God  was  actually  intending  to  fulfil  ;  perhaps,  in- 
deed, we  err  in  not  cordially  recognizing  in  his  language 
the  presence  of  heavenly  inspiration.  And  in  uttering  the 
desire  which  his  words  disclose,  we  may  take  it  for  grant- 
ed, he  was  clothing  the  thoughts  of  a  thousand  bosoms, 
venting  the  secret  and  cherished  longings  of  unnumbered 
hearts.  If  we,  though  standing  in  the  radiance  of  the 
'  Sun,'  which  has  since  risen  on  the  world,  are  yet  some- 
times conscious  of  impatience,  and  complain  of  obscurity, 
what  must  have  been  the  wishes  and  aspirations  of  those, 
who,  with  a  keen  perception  of  their  exigence,  were  sitting 
in  darkness  and  the  shadow  of  death? 

Now  the  appearance  of  a  Divine  Instructor,  thus  abso- 
lutely necessary,  and  ardently  desired,  might  have  been 
warrantably  expected.  Indubitable  evidence  existed  that 
God  already  had  spoken  to  man,  at  sundry  times  and  in 
divers  manners ;  and  as  the  ignorance  of  the  world  was 
still  unreclaimed,  and  there  was  no  intimation  that  his 
voice  had  been  final,  there  was  ground  to  anticipate,  that, 
in  his  own  time,  he  would  break  the  silence  again.  Be- 
sides, the  very  presence  and  nature  of  the  Jewish  economy 
was  a  standing  evidence  that  such  was  his  gracious  inten- 
tion. Bearing  the  marks  of  a  celestial  origin,  and  fraught 
with  important  truth,  it  yet  veiled  its  meaning  in  types  and 
enigmas,  the  solution  of  \vhich  remained  to  be  given. 
Here  were  mysteries — where  was  the  interpreter?  Here 
were  shadows — the  substance,  *  the  very  things  themselves,3 
must  be  at  hand.  Here  were  proofs  that,  in  a  former  age, 
God  had  said,  'Let  there  be  spiritual  light' — was  it  not 


THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

likely  that,  in  the  process  of  his  new  creation,  the  time 
would  come  when  he  would  collect,  and  embody,  and  aug- 
ment this  light  into  a  glorious  sun  ?  Here  was  a  system 
of  divine  intimations,  and  unfinished  economy — was  it 
likely  that  he  would  leave  it  incomplete  ?  was  it  not  more 
accordant  with  the  character  of  a  perfect  being,  that,  putting 
his  hand  a  second  time  to  the  work,  he  would  bring  it  to 
perfection  ? 

But,  beyond  this,  the  spirit  of  prophecy  had  distinctly 
foretold  that  an  inspired  instructor  should  appear.  '  For 
Moses  truly  said  unto  the  fathers,  A  prophet  shall  the  Lord 
your  God  raise  up  unto  you  of  your  brethren,  like  unto 
me ;  him  shall  ye  hear  in  all  things  whatsoever  he  shall 
say  unto  you.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that  every  soul, 
which  will  not  hear  that  prophet,  shall  be  destroyed  from 
among  the  people.  Yea,  and  all  the  prophets  from  Sam- 
uel, and  those  that  follow  after,  as  many  as  have  spoken, 
have  likewise  foretold  of  these  days.'  Thus  a  prediction 
was  to  be  found,  at  the  very  opening  of  the  prophetic  roll, 
announcing  the  advent  of  a  distinguished  teacher,  whose 
words  would  demand  universal  regard  ;  while  his  author- 
ity would  be  supreme,  and  his  power  invincible.  Unfold- 
ing it  farther,  we  read  that  he  should  preach  the  gospel  to 
the  poor,  and  proclaim  the  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord  ; 
that  he  should  set  judgment  in  the  earth,  and  the  isles 
should  wait  for  his  law;  that  the  Gentiles  should  come  to 
his  light,  and  kings  to  the  brightness  of  his  rising.  And 
as  he  was  its  earliest,  so  he  was  also  its  latest  theme.  For, 
reading  on  to  its  closing  lines,  we  find  it  predict  him  as 
the  Messenger  of  the  covenant  who  was  yet  to  come  ;  and 
the  Sun  of  Righteousness  yet  to  arise.  His  name  was 
the  first  which  prophecy  had  uttered  :  as  often  as  it  spoke, 
it  resumed  the  inspiring  theme ;  and  when  at  length  it  ex- 
pired, his  name  lingered  on  its  lips.  'When  the  fulness 


HIS       AUTHORITY.  53 

of  time  was  come,  God  sent  forth  his  Son.'  'Hear,  O 
heavens  ;  and  be  astonished,  O  earth  ! '  the  appointed  In- 
structor appears,  and  proves  to  be  no  less  a  being  than  the 
Son  of  God  himself.  It  is  true,  the  deep  necessities  of 
man,  the  riches  of  the  divine  benevolence,  and  the  glowing 
colors  of  prophecy,  might  have  kindled  and  justified  the 
expectation  of  a  most  illustrious  teacher ;  but  that  he 
should  have  appeared  in  the  person  of  the  Eternal  Word 
exceeds  the  highest  flight  of  human  hope ;  that  he  should 
have  come  from  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  was  an  excess  of 
goodness,  one  of  those  splendid  surprises  of  grace,  by 
which  mercy  delights  to  melt  the  obduracy,  and  to  win  the 
confidence  of  our  guilty  race. 

The  circumstances  attending  the  advent  of  so  illustrious 
a  Prophet,  must  be  entitled  to  receive  our  profound  atten- 
tion. With  the  outlines  of  these  we  are  all  familiar.  The 
condescending  object  of  his  mission  required  that,  for  a 
time,  he  should  hold  the  essential  glories  of  his  nature  in 
abeyance:  accordingly  he  mysteriously  allied  himself  to 
our  condition;  'the  Word  was  made  flesh.'  The  strain 
of  prophecy  had  assigned  the  scene  of  his  life  and  labors 
to  Judea  ;  and  in  that  favored  land  he  appeared.  That  he 
should  have  grown  in  wisdom  as  he  rose  to  maturity,  was 
only  according  to  a  law  of  our  nature — an  ordinance  of 
his  own  divine  appointment — since  it  is  only  by  a  gradual 
development  that  the  faculties  of  man  arrive  at  perfection  ; 
but  the  office  he  had  come  to  assume,  and  the  divine  qual- 
ifications he  brought  to  it,  supposed  him  superior  to  human 
tuition;  and  accordingly  he  sought  it  not.  When  in 
childhood,  he  mingled  a  moment  with  the  doctors  of  the 
temple,  *  they  were  astonished  at  his  understanding; '  his 
inquiries  were  more  instructive  and  replete  with  wisdom 
than  their  replies.  On  an  after  occasion,  their  surprise  at 
his  stores  of  sacred  science  was  augmented  by  their 


54  T  H  E       GREAT       T  E  A  CHER. 

knowledge  of  the  fact,  that  he  had  '  never  learned,7  never 
approached  the  schools  of  human  instruction.  He  had 
access  to  a  tree  of  knowledge  they  knew  not  of.  As  his 
dignity  was  of  an  order  distinct  from  earthly  pomp,  inca- 
pable of  being  diminished  by  its  absence,  or  of  being  em- 
bellished by  its  presence,  he  entirely  dispensed  with  it. 
The  various  gradations  of  human  condition  were  all  open 
and  free  to  his  choice,  but  of  these  he  selected  the  lowliest  ; 
and  however  astonishing  the  selection  may  appear  to  those 
who  place  distinction  in  opulence  and  rank,  to  him  who 
had  already  stooped  from  an  infinite  height  in  becoming 
man,  the  varieties  of  earthly  rank  were  as  nothing,  were 
only  minute  degrees  of  littleness.  The  place  of  his  birth, 
like  a  place  constructed  from  the  very  wrecks  of  poverty, 
was  entirely  swept  of  every  trace  of  luxury,  every  vestige 
of  indulgence,  and  seemed  sacred  to  humility  alone.  And 
the  lowliness  of  all  his  subsequent  life  strictly  accorded 
with  the  humbleness  of  his  birth.  Had  he  come  in  the 
pomp  of  outward  state,  the  multitude  would  have  been  de- 
barred from  his  presence,  and  the  regards  of  men  would 
have  been  divided  between  the  attractions  of  his  earthly 
rank,  and  the  claims  of  celestial  truth;  but  by  choosing 
the  low  condition  of  the  great  majority,  and  declining  the 
tinselled  drapery  which  charms  the  eye,  he  graciously 
made  himself  accessible  to  all,  while  he  seemed  to  put  for- 
ward truth  alone  as  the  only  object  demanding  their  notice 
— to  challenge  their  whole  attention  to  the  native  worth,  the 
intrinsic  importance  of  the  doctrines  he  announced. 

But  though,  for  the  reasons  assigned,  he  assumed  the 
most  bare  and  unpretending  simplicity,  as  the  hour  for 
opening  his  divine  commission  drew  nigh,  the  public  mind 
was  apprised  of  the  event  by  '  wonders  in  heaven  above, 
and  signs  in  the  earth  beneath.'  A  herald,  preceding  his 
steps,  aroused  the  nation,  by  the  solemn  announcement  that 


HIS       AUTHORITY.  55 

he  was  now  at  hand ;  a  herald,  whose  office  was  deemed 
so  important  as  the  precursor  of  Christ,  that  even  he  had 
been  the  subject  of  ancient  prediction ;  while,  to  prepare 
the  minds,  and  to  excite  the  expectations  of  those  he  ad- 
dressed, the  burden  of  his  message  was  nothing  less  than 
the  stern  necessity  of  immediate  repentance,  and  the  ap- 
proaching erection  of  a  heavenly  kingdom  :  '  Repent  ye, 
for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand.'  The  voice  came 
pealing  from  the  Judean  desert,  peopling  its  path  wherever 
it  swept  with  echoes  of  astonishment  and  alarm  ;  and  as  it 
passed  over  the  banks  of  the  Jordan,  rung  through  the  pala- 
ces and  streets  of  Jerusalem,  and  startled  even  the  distant 
shores  ;  the  wondering  land  went  out  in  crowds,  the  san- 
'  guine,  the  envious,  the  devout,  the  anxious,  the  oppressed, 
the  curious — priest,  politician,  populace — all  flocked  and 
thronged  to  the  scene  of  this  remarkable  prodigy ;  where, 
having  won  their  admiration  and  credence  by  the  severe 
sanctity  of  his  life,  and  agitated  their  fears  by  the  bold  arid 
alarming  tenor  of  his  address,  he  awoke  in  them  vague  but 
elevated  anticipations  of  *  him  that  should  come,'  and  took 
from  them  a  solemn  pledge,  by  baptism,  that  as  soon  as 
that  Illustrious  Personage  appeared  they  would  enroll 
themselves  among  his  disciples.  l  Now  when  all  the  peo- 
ple were  baptized,'  while  the  herald  voice  was  yet  ringing 
in  their  ears,  and  their  expectation  was  raised  to  the  utmost 
pitch,  Jesus,  the  subject  of  prophecy,  the  object  of  hope, 
the  desire  of  nations,  appeared,  and  with  ineffable  conde- 
scension received,  at  the  hands  of  John,  the  baptismal  rite. 
Having  thus  honored  the  ministry  of  his  servant,  and  rati- 
fied and  obeyed  existing  laws,  he  ascended  from  the  wa- 
ters, and  prayed ;  and  as  he  prayed,  *  Lo,  the  heavens  were 
opened  unto  him,  and  he  saw  the  Spirit  of  God  descending 
like  a  dove,  and  lighting  upon  him  :  and,  lo,  a  voice  from 
heaven,  saying,  This  is  my  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am 


56  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

well  pleased.'  Such  was  the  splendid  scene  of  his  divine 
inauguration  to  an  office,  to  which  we  behold  him  appoint- 
ed by  the  concurrent  suffrages  of  the  eternal  Father  and 
the  Holy  Spirit;  invested  with  the  authority,  and  enjoying 
the  complacency  of  the  one,  anointed  and  endowed  with 
the  unmeasured  fulness  of  the  other ;  an  office  which  was 
destined  to  absorb  all  moral  authority,  distinction,  and  pow- 
er, and  in  the  discharge  of  which,  whatever  he  uttered  was 
henceforth  to  be  regarded  as  law  and  life. 

In  the  following  essays,  I  propose  to  point  out  the  lead- 
ing features  of  our  Lord's  instructions.  My  object,  be  it 
remarked,  is  not  to  attempt  a  detailed  and  textual  exposition 
of  the  truths  he  taught,  the  words  he  uttered — though 
these,  of  necessity,  will  be  constantly  before  us,  as  our 
only  data  and  source  of  illustration — but  to  elicit  and  ex- 
emplify the  peculiar  qualities  by  which  these  truths  and 
words,  when  viewed  as  a  whole,  are  distinguished.  With 
the  substance  of  what  he  taught,  we  are  all  more  or  less 
familiar :  since,  in  common  with  the  stupendous  miracles 
which  marked  his  path,  the  purity  and  perfection  of  his 
character,  his  amazing  death,  and  glorious  resurrection,  it 
forms  an  important  part  of  our  scripture  reading,  and  is 
one  of  the  ordinary  topics  of  pulpit  instruction;  but,  if  I 
mistake  not,  the  impression  which  is  generally  entertained 
of  the  claims  of  Christ  as  a  teacher,  is  most  disproportion- 
ately inadequate  ;  owing,  perhaps,  partly  to  the  absorbing 
attractions  which  invest  the  subject  of  his  atoning  death, 
and  partly  to  that  eclipsing  flood  of  light  which  immediate- 
ly afterwards  burst  on  the  church  in  the  ministry  of  the 
apostles ;  for,  by  a  known  principle,  truth  evolved  and  il- 
lustrated will  supplant  and  succeed  in  the  mind  the  same 
truth  condensed  and  primitive,  however  superior  its  source, 
and  throw  over  it  an  air  of  undeserved  disparagement. 
Were  it  proposed  to  magnify  his  office  as  the  great  Proph- 


HIS       AUTHORITY.  57 

etofthe  church,  it  would  be  important  to  remark  that  the 
preaching  of  the  apostles,  subsequent  to  his  ascension, 
was  virtually  the  mere  continuation  of  his  own  preaching; 
that  they  were  simply  the  organs  and  oracles  through 
which  he  spoke ;  as  much  so  as  when  he  had  sent  them 
forth,  by  two  and  two,  to  proclaim  through  Judeathe  king- 
dom of  God  ;  the  only  difference  being,  that  he  had  now 
removed  the  scene  of  his  instructions  from  earth  to  heaven  ; 
but,  without  recurring  to  this  consideration,  and  confining 
ourselves  entirely  to  the  specimens  we  possess  of  his  per- 
sonal teaching,  it  may  easily  be  made  apparent  that,  in  the 
most  literal  and  comprehensive  sense  of  the  expression, 
'  never  man  spake  like  this  man.'  And  in  adopting  the 
plan  contemplated,  of  exemplifying  the  peculiar  character- 
istics of  his  earthly  teaching,  I  am  principally  moved  by 
the  persuasion,  that  it  is  best  adapted  to  exhibit  an  enlarg- 
ed, connected,  and  impressive  view  of  the  emphatic  truth  of 
this  declaration. 

On  meeting  with  an  allusion  to  our  Lord's  discourses, 
we  naturally  recur,  in  thought,  to  his  sermon  on  the 
mount,  to  his  parables,  his  charge  to  his  apostles,  his  more 
lengthened  vindicatory  replies  to  the  questions  and  impu- 
tations of  his  adversaries,  his  terrible  prophetic  denuncia- 
tion of  the  Jewish  priesthood  and  nation,  and  his  valedic- 
tory address  to  his  disciples  on  the  eve  of  his  crucifixion. 
These,  when  brought  from  their  various  detached  positions 
in  the  gospels,  and  grouped  together  in  the  mind,  assume, 
perhaps,  a  larger  appearance  than  the  cursory  reader  had 
before  attached  to  them.  He  must,  however,  be  aware, 
that  we  possess  but  a  very  small  proportion  of  what  Jesus 
actually  delivered.  It  is  not  to  be  imagined  that  he,  who 
went  about  doing  good,  and  who  turned  every  event  into 
an  occasion  of  usefulness,  would  travel  from  place  to  place, 
with  his  disciples,  in  silence.  Rather,  we  infer  from  the 


58  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

characteristic  inquisitiveness  which  some  of  them  showed, 
and  his  uniform  readiness  to  reply,  that  the  very  scenes 
through  which  he  walked,  if  nothing  else,  would  furnish 
him  with  a  perpetual  occasion  of  instruction;  that,  in 
traversing  a  land  so  often  pressed  hy  angels  '  feet,  so  rich 
in  the  relics  of  miracle  and  devotion,  that  its  very  soil  had 
lost  its  gross  materiality,  and  every  object  had  acquired  a 
supernatural  aspect,  he  would  often  advert  to  ancient  times, 
making  them  the  text  of  hallowed  remark,  and  thus  turn 
the  very  dust  he  trod  into  the  gold  of  wisdom.  And  yet, 
though  so  much  of  his  time  was  necessarily  occupied  in 
frequent,  circuitous,  and  protracted  journeys,  a  few  frag- 
ments, incidentally  given,  are  all  that  we  have  of  his  di- 
vine communications  by  the  way. 

But  we  are  not  left  to  mere  conjecture  as  to  the  probable 
occasions  on  which  he  taught.  The  scene  of  the  first 
discourse  he  is  recorded  to  have  uttered,  appears  to  have 
been  Jerusalem;  but  of  that  memorable  unsealing  of  the 
fountains  of  the  waters  of  life,  we  only  know  that,  in  con- 
junction with  his  miracles,  it  was  the  means  of  inducing 
many  to  believe  on  him.  To  form  an  idea  of  the  immense 
proportion  in  which  the  amount  of  his  teaching  must  have 
exceeded  what  is  on  record,  we  have  only  to  recall  the 
following  expressions:  'And  Jesus  returned  in. the  power 
of  the  Spirit  into  Galilee ;  and  there  went  out  a  fame  of 
him  through  all  the  region  round  about.  And  he  taught 
in  their  synagogues,  being  glorified  of  all.  And  he  came 
to  Nazareth,  and  preached  there.  And  he  came  down  to 
Capernaum,  and  taught  them  on  the  sabbath  days.  And 
he  said,  I  must  preach  the  kingdom  of  God  to  other  cities 
also  ;  for  therefore  am  I  sent.  And  he  preached  in  the 
synagogues  .of  Galilee.'  These  intimations  are  all  to  be 
found  in  a  single  chapter,  the  4th  of  Luke  ;  and  only  refer 
to  a  single  period,  the  opening  of  his  ministry.  But  if  we 


HIS       AUTHORITY.  59 

bear  in  mind  that  similar  intimations  are  dispersed  through 
the  gospels,  and  are  equally  applicable  to  all  the  subse- 
quent stages  of  his  life,  we  shall  be  vividly  impressed, 
that  what  we  read  is  merely  a  hint  of  what  he  delivered. 
What  synagogue  in  Galilee,  if  not  in  Judea,  did  not  re- 
sound to  his  gracious  voice?  What  sabbath  did  not  be- 
hold him  breaking  the  bread  of  life  to  famishing  crowds  ? 
He  held  the  key  of  all  the  treasures  of  wisdom,  and  he 
distributed  of  its  stores  with  the  affluence  and  profusion  of 
unwearied  beneficence.  He  had  come  to  sow  the  earth 
with  truth,  and  wherever  he  went  he  scattered  in  abund- 
ance the  incorruptible  seed.  What  has  been  transmitted 
by  the  holy  evangelists  is  all  that  is  necessary  to  inform 
and  to  sanctify ;  had  all  that  he  uttered  in  the  course  of 
his  laborious  ministry  been  preserved — for  he  never  pro- 
nounced an  idle  word — the  voluminous  mass  would  have 
been  inaccessible  to  the  great  majority,  and  thus  its  design 
would  have  been  defeated  ;  *  for  I  suppose  the  world  itself 
would  not  have  been  elble  to  receive  the  books  that  should 
be  written.' 

We  may,  I  think,  warrantably  suppose  that,  on  com- 
mencing his  public  ministry,  the  adorable  Redeemer  had 
present  to  his  comprehensive  mind,  an  outline  of  the  truths 
which  should  form  the  scope  of  his  teaching.  The  worth- 
lessness  of  formal  ceremonial  obedience ;  the  spirituality 
of  the  law  and  its  eternal  obligations  ;  the  holy,  benevo- 
lent, and  paternal  character  of  God;  the  relations  in 
which  we  stand  to  God,  and  to  each  other :  the  display  of 
his  grace  in  the  gift  of  his  Son  for  human  salvation  ;  the 
spiritual  nature  of  the  gospel  kingdom:  the  necessity  of 
prayer,  repentance,  and  holiness  in  those  who  belong  to  it; 
the  agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  enlighten,  renew,  and 
sanctify  the  soul ;  the  sublime  fact  of  his  own  divine  ap- 
pointment to  be  the  Saviour  and  Judge  of  the  world  ;  these 


60  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

were  the  momentous  truths  on  which  he  chiefly  dwelt,  and 
to  these,  whatever  the  immediate  occasion  of  his  speaking, 
he  perpetually  returned.  Like  some  of  the  celestial  bodies, 
indeed,  which  refuse  to  come  under  any  astronomical  ar- 
rangement of  signs,  some  of  the  lights  which  he  kindled 
and  placed  in  the  great  firmament  of  truth,  stand  out  in 
isolated  grandeur,  and  shine  apart.  But  though  this  was 
to  be  expected  from  the  awful  extent  of  that  ignorance  he 
came  to  enlighten  from  the  stores  of  his  wisdom,  and  the 
variety  of  occasion  which  called  it  forth,  the  mass  of  his 
divine  instructions  will  be  found  to  come  under  the  enu- 
meration we  have  specified.  And  it  is  from  his  discourses 
and  discoveries,  on  these  topics,  that  we  now  proceed  to 
exhibit  those  distinguishing  marks  of  his  teaching  on 
which  we  propose  to  treat. 

It  is  impossible  to  peruse  the  instructions  of  Christ  with- 
out remarking  the  tone  of  authority  which  pervades  them  : 
this  was  the  characteristic  by  which  his  hearers,  on  several 
occasions,  appear  to  have  been  chiefly  impressed  ;  and  to 
this,  therefore,  we  think  it  natural  to  advert  first.  Of  his 
personal  appearance,  and  general  address,  we  are  left  in  ig- 
norance: nor  is  it  necessary,  that,  in  order  to  form  an  idea 
of  his  teaching,  we  should  be  able  to  imagine  them.  For 
this  purpose  we  have  only  to  suppose,  what  is  surely  allow- 
able, that  they  were  in  no  way  unfriendly  to  useful  effect; 
and  that,  whatever  the  theme  which  engaged  his  tongue, 
his  voice,  and  words,  and  gestures  accorded  with  it,  being 
true  to  nature,  and  to  the  eloquence  of  holy  human  feeling. 
And  hence,  the  authority  with  which  he  spoke  was  not  of 
one  unvaried  character,  but  was  marked  and  modified  by 
the  nature  of  his  subject.  There  was  authority  in  his  in- 
vitations and  promises,  not  less  than  in  his  denunciations 
and  commands,  for  they  were  uttered  in  the  language  of 
independent  goodness  and  power ;  but  while  we  hear  in  the 


HIS      AUTHORITY.  61 

former  the  overflowings  of  paternal  tenderness  and  love, 
we  recognize  in  the  latter  the  tones  of  the  lawgiver  and 
the  judge.  Availing  myself  of  this  variety,  it  may  serve 
to  promote  distinctness  and  easier  recollection,  if  L  classify 
the  quotations  I  intend  to  make  accordingly. 

I.     There  are  passages  which  exhibit  especially  the  au- 
thority of  goodness.     *  Come  unto   me  all  ye  that    labor 
and  are  heavy  laden  ;  and  I  will  give  you  rest.'     *  If  any 
man  thirst,  let  him  come  unto  me,  and  drink.5     '  Him  that 
cometh  unto  me   I  will  in 'no  wise   cast  out.'       Who  can 
listen  to  these    great  and  gracious  announcements  without 
feeling  himself  standing  in  the  presence  of  superior  good- 
ness ?     His  first  emotion  may  be  that  of  admiring    grati- 
tude at  the  display  of  so  much  benignity  and  compassion  : 
but  scarcely  can  it  fail  to  be  followed  by  the  delightful  yet 
awful  impression,  that  he  is  occupying  holy  ground,  stand- 
ing near  the  fountain  of  mercy  itself.     What  distinguished 
dignity  and  grace  do  we  recognize  in  sentences   such  as 
these  ;  *  I  am  the  light  of  the  world  ;'     '  I  am  the  bread  of 
life:'  '  I  am  the  way,    the  truth,  and  the  life;'   '  I  am  the 
good  shepherd,  and  give  unto  my  sheep  eternal  life  :  '   '  I 
am  come  that   they  might  have  life,  and  that  they"  might 
have  it  more  abundantly.'     When  from  the  midst  of  the 
burning  bush  Jehovah  proclaimed  himself,  I  am  that  I  am, 
he  announced  his  independent  existence  and  self-sufficient 
perfections  ;    in  other  words,  he    declared   what  he  is  in 
himself.     In  these  declarations  of  Jesus,  we  recognize  the 
same  ineffable  Being  describing  what  he  is  to  his  people; 
laying  open  the  resources  of  his  infinite  nature,  appropria- 
ting and  applying  them,  with  high  complacency  in  the  act, 
to  the  wants  of  our  guilty  race  :  in  each  instance,  the  dig- 
nity addressing  us  is  the  same,  only  that  in  the  language 
cf  i he  Incarnate  Word,  the  awful  is  exchanged  for  the  attrac- 


( >~  T  II  K       Ci  R  E  A  T       T  E  A  C  HER. 

live  and  gracious.  He  spoke  like  the  soul  of  universal 
goodness,  conscious  of  a  power  of  breathing  into  prostrate 
humanity  the  breath  of  life :  of  entering  the  vast  capaci- 
ties of  the  world,  and  filling  them  all  with,  a  fulness  of  joy. 
And,  as  the  only  other  illustration  we  shall  adduce,  think 
of  the  opening  of  his  divine  discourse  on  the  mount  of 
Beatitudes.  How  like  a  cloud  of  goodness  did  he  crown 
the  honored  mount,  and  shower  his  benedictions  with  a 
copiousness,  which  showed  that  it  was  at  once  his  pleasure 
and  his  prerogative  to  bless.  In  a  way  which  evinced 
that,  while  so  employed,  lie  was  only  engaged  in  his  own 
peculiar  ]v  ;!>at  the  treasures  of  eternity  were  at 

in  the  disposal  of  them  .he  knew  no  con- 
trol :  that  he  thought  it  no  robbery  to  enact  the  God;  he 
rejected  the  minions  and  favorites  of  the  world,  and,  calling 
authoritatively  on  a  peculiar  people,  he  distributed  them  in- 
to classes,  assigned  to  each  an  appropriate  award,  and 
made  them  free  of  the  universal  kingdom  of  God.  Having 
brought  into  the  world  the  accumulated  treasures  of  the 
eternal  God,  thus  publicly  did  he  adopt  his  heirs,  and 
authoritatively  assign  to  each  his  respective  share.  Turn- 
ing to  such  as  might  suffer  for  his  'name's  s.ike'  last,  he 
declared  that  '  great  should  be  their  reward  in  heaven:' 
thus  disclosing  the  dignity  which  attached  to  his  name, 
and  the  unlimited  authority  he  possesses  in  heaven. 

II.  There  were  occasions  when  he  spoke  with  the  au- 
thority of  greatness.  '  He  that  hath  ears  to  hear,'  said  he, 
*  let  him  hear  ;'  and  in  thus  bespeaking  universal  and  sub- 
missive attention,  he  was  only  repeating  the  command 
from  the  excellent  glory  which  had  summoned  the  world 
to  listen  while  he  spoke,  and  to  receive  every  word  he 
might  utter  as  law  and  life.  In  accordance  with  the  spirit 
of  that  command,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  compare  himself 


HIS       AUTHORITY.  (M 

with  the  most  distinguished  lights  of  the  Jewish  church, 
and  to  claim  pre-eminence  over  them  all.  Jonah  wras  one 
of  the  most  exalted  names  of  which  the  Israelites  could 
boast.  His  voice,  like  a  blast  from  the  trump  of  God,  had 
pealed  through  the  streets  of  Nineveh,  and  had  made  all 
its  palaces  tremble  :  his  preaching  had  humbled  the  mighti- 
est nation  of  the  east  ;  had  instrumentally  preserved  an 
empire  from  destruction  ;  had  caused  their  religion  and 
their  laws  to  be  revered  by  the  surrounding  lands,  and  had 
greatly  exalted  the  God  of  Israel  before  the  heathen.  Yet 
aware  that  all  these  impressions  of  Jonah's  greatness  were 
vividly  present  to  their  minds,  '  behold,'  said  he,  'a  greater 
than  Jonah  is  here!'  Solomon  with  them  was  a  name 
for  glory.  As  the  the  founder  of  their  magnificent  temple, 
as  the  instrument  of  raising  their  nation  to  the  loftiest 
point  of  prosperity,  as  the  most  highly  endowed  and  wisest 
of  men,  the  depository  and  personification  of  wisdom,  they 
hallowed  his  name  with  a  reverence  which  fell  little  short 
of  idolatry :  so  that  to  assert  superiority  to  him  was,  in 
their  eyes,  to  claim  to  be  considered  as  more  than  a  man; 
as  passing  beyond  the  limits  of  humanity,  and  invading  the 
precincts  of  Deity.  Yet  aware  that  such  was  their  high 
and  jealous  regard  for  his  fame,  and  while  standing  amidst 
the  splendid  memorials  of  his  greatness,  '  Behold,'  said 
he,  *  a  greater  than  Solomon  is  here  !  '  Not  only  did  he 
claim  to  eclipse  their  brightest  luminaries,  he  spoke  of  all 
the  flower  and  prime  of  their  nation,  as  having  longed  to 
complete  their  earthly  distinctions  by  sitting  at  his  feet, 
and  following  in  his  train.  '  He  turned  unto  his  disciples, 
and  said,  Blessed  are  your  eyes,  for  they  see,  and  your 
ears,  for  they  hear.  For  verily  I  say  unto  you,  that  many 
prophets,  and  kings,  and  righteous  men,  have  desired  to 
see  those  things  which  ye  see,  and  have  not  seen  them  ; 
and  to  hear  those  things  which  ye  hear,  and  have  not  heard 


64  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

them.'  And,  as  though  to  extinguish  with  a  breath,  and 
forever,  all  idea  of  rivalship  with  him,  he  distinctly  as- 
sumed and  appropriated  as  his  right,  the  title  of  authority 
his  followers  had  placed  at  his  feet,  and  affirmed  his  claim 
to  the  entire  subjection  aud  allegiance  of  their  faith.  '  Ye 
call  me  Master  and  Lord,  and  ye  say  well,  for  so  I  am: 
one  is  your  master,  even  Christ.5  Thus  taking  possession 
of  the  sacred  domain  of  conscience  in  his  own  name,  he 
erected  a  throne  whose  supremacy  it  is  treason  to  question, 
and  blasphemy  to  attempt  to  usurp. 

In  his  graphic  and  awful  allusions  to  the  last  day,  in 
none  of  which  he  fails  to  make  prominent  the  glorious 
tribunal  of  the  Son  of  man,  what  a  voice  of  authority  and 
majesty  is  heard  to  speak  !  While  reading,  for  instance, 
his  parabolical  representation  of  it,  in  the  25th  of  Matthew, 
how  imperceptibly  but  irresistibly  is  the  attention  engaged 
and  the  heart  subdued;  till,  having  marked  with  conscious 
concern  the  partition  betwixt  the  sheep  and  the  goats,  and 
intensely  listened  to  his  portentous  addresses  to  each,  and 
trembled  at  the  temerity  evinced  in  the  defence  of  the  wick- 
ed, and  sympathized  with  the  characteristic  reply  of  the 
righteous,  we  hang  with  breathless  anxiety  on  the  lips 
which  pronounce  their  respective  awards,  and  feel  at  the 
breaking  up  and  departure  of  the  vast  assembly  to  their 
separate  states,  as  though  we  ourselves  had  been  arraigned 
in  his  august  presence,  how  entirely  we  are  in  his  hands, 
and  how  insignificant  we  are  there.  Having  amazed  his 
hearers  by  the  announcement  of  that  partial  resurrection 
which  accompanied  and  adorned  his  own  triumph  over 
the  grave,  he  bade  them  reserve  their  wonder  for  the  far 
more  impressive  scenes  of  the  last  day  ;  '  Marvel  not  at 
this,  for  the  hour  is  coming  in  the  which  all  that  are  in  the 
"  graves  shall  hear  the  voice  of  the  Son  of  man,  and  shall 
come  forth.'  If  we  would  recogaize  the  authority  wlii:ll 


HIS       AUTHORITY.  65 

belongs  to  every  part  of  his  teaching,  we  have  only  to  re- 
alize the  thought,  that  in  listening  to  him,  we  are  actually 
listening  to  the  voice  which  is  soon  to  resound  through  all 
the  nations  of  the  dead,  and  to  which  we  ourselves  shall 
reply  by  awaking  and  leaving  the  chambers  of  the  grave. 
When  all  the  universe  shall  be  convened  for  judgment,  the 
only  parties  remaining  will  be  He  who  judges  and  they 
who  are  judged  ;  of  all  the  multiplied  relations  which  now 
subsist,  that  which  makes  us  accountable  to  God  will  alone 
be  felt:  so  that,  were  it  possible  in  that  awful  juncture  for 
every  order  of  created  beings  to  disown  and  desert  us,  the 
calamity  would  fail,  from  its  comparative  insignificance,  to 
attract  our  notice.  Yet  the  Saviour  unequivocally  implies 
that  if  he  alone  'profess  to  be  ashamed  '  of  us,  our  doom 
will  be  sealed  :  that  it  will  be  only  for  him  to  disown  us, 
happiness  and  hope  will  instantly  desert  us,  and  from  that 
moment  we  shall  have  to  date  our  \voe.  Virtue,  wherever 
it  exists,  is  greatness  of  the  highest  order ;  for  it  allies  us  to 
supreme  greatness ;  but  as  though  he  represented  and  em- 
bodied universal  holiness  in  his  own  person,  as  though  he 
were  at  once  the  author  and  champion  of  all  righteous- 
ness, he  engages  to  reward  every  act  that  befriends  it,  as  an 
honor  conferred  on  himself;  while  whatever  opposes  it, 
even  in  thought,  he  describes  as  a  violence  offered  to  his 
own  nature  which  he  feels  himself  bound  to  resent.  *  Ye 
did  it  unto  me,  or  ye  did  it  not  unto  me ; '  these  are  the 
terms  of  aggravation  in  which  he  depicts  himself  describ- 
ing every  act,  and  by  which  he  informs  us  that,  as  he  sit8 
on  the  throne  of  judgment,  the  great  centre  of  the  congre- 
gated world,  every  act  will  be  seen,  like  a  line,  pointing  to 
him  as  its  object  and  end;  or  else,  in  forgetfulness  and 
enmity,  diverging  from  him,  and  losing  itself  in  outer 
darkness. 

The  name  of  a  person  is  a  familiar  formula  to  denote  his 
4 


66  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

character  and  influence.  The  name  of  God  is  a  compen- 
dious idiom  of  scripture,  importing  his  glory,  the  fulness 
and  totality  of  his  divine  perfections.  Hence,  every  thing 
peculiar  to  the  legal  economy  was  prescribed  in  his  name 
as  the  Fountain  of  authority,  or  was  required  to  be  done  to 
his  name,  as  its  only  legitimate  object  and  end.  In  intro- 
ducing the  Christian  economy,  we  find  Jesus  denoting  his 
power  and  supremacy  in  the  same  manner.  Copying  the 
example  of  Deity,  he  impressed  his  name  upon  every  act, 
and  object,  and  office,  peculiar  to  the  new  dispensation. 
His  disciples,  as  often  as  they  desired  to  call  down  spiritual 
blessings,  were  to  employ  his  name,  and  their  plea  would 
prevail.  They  were  to  gather  together  for  social  worship 
to  his  name.  They  were  to  baptize  to  his  name.  In  his 
flame  they  were  to  summon  and  subvert  the  strongholds  of 
idolatry  and  sin,  and  to  arouse  the  nations  from  the  slum- 
bers of  spiritual  death.  Speaking  in  his  name,  they  were 
to  find  the  ordinances  of  nature  miraculously  obedient  to 
their  voice.  His  name  was  to  be  their  watchword,  their 
badge  of  distinction,  the  principle  of  their  piety,  the  bond 
of  their  union,  the  end  of  their  actions,  the  authority  for 
their  conduct,  and  the  source  of  their  success.  Nothing 
was  to  be  recognized  or  received  in  his  kingdom,  which 
did  not  bear  the  superscription  of  his  name  ;  every  thing 
was  to  confess  his  supremacy,  by,  acknowledging  him  for 
its  author,  or  else  for  its  ultimate  design. 

But  these  illustrations  of  the  dignity  which  marked  the 
teaching  of  Christ  might  be  multiplied  indefinitely.  I  do 
not  profess  to  have  selected  the  best :  for  when  I  have 
hoped  the  difficulty  of  selection  was  over,  a  new  specimen 
has  suddenly  occurred,  bringing  in  its  train  a  host  of  fresh 
illustrations,  as  eligible  as  those  already  cited.  It  is  one 
of  the  peculiarities  of  our  Lord's  teaching,  that  he  was  his 
own  subject ;  and  seldom  does  he  release  our  attention 


HIS       AUTHORITY.  67 

from  the  exalted  theme.  As  if  he  sought  to  be  always 
present  to  our  eye,  he  converted  all  nature  into  an  index  to 
his  greatness,  treated  it  as  an  intended  system  of  emblems 
of  himself.  There  is  a  sense  in  which  the  much-admired 
saying  of  Plato,  that  light  is  *  only  the  shadow  of  God,' 
was  applied  by  our  Lord  to  himself.  '  I,'  said  he,  '  am  the 
light  of  the  world : '  the  sun  is  only  '  my  emblematic  rep- 
resentative.' Water,  and  air,  and  light,  and  life,  the  great 
elements  of  existence,  the  universal  principles,  were  select- 
ed by  him  as  the  only  adequate  erriblems  of  his  greatness. 
How  numerous  the  occasions  in  which  he  partially  re- 
moved the  veil  of  his  greatness  :  heightening  our  concep- 
tions of  his  majesty,  by  the  terms  of  reserve  in  which  he 
spoke  of  it.  His  pre-existence,  his  personal  dignity,  his 
prospective  glory  ;  these  were  themes  familiar  to  his  tongue. 
*  He  thought  it  not  robbery  to  be  equal  with  God; '  and 
accordingly  when  he  claimed  the  equality,  he  did  not  em- 
ploy any  pomp  of  words,  he  did  not  appoint  a  public  oc- 
casion, and  assemble  the  nation,  and  command  attention  by 
the  trumpets  and  thunders  of  Sinai  •  like  one  to  whom  all 
greatness  was  familiar,  he  simply  announced  it  in  his  com- 
mon speech.  '  As  the  Father/  said  he,  *  knoweth  me,  even 
so  know  I  the  Father.  The  Son  restoreth  to  life  whom 
he  will.  All  things  that  the  Father  hath  are  mine.  I  and 
my  Father  are  one.  I  appoint  unto  you  a  kingdom.' 
Greatness,  which  baffles  and  astonishes  our  conceptions,/ 
he  spoke  of  in  a  tone  of  unmoved  tranquillity.  He  lays 
his  hand  on  the  throne  of  God,  with  the  spontaneous  ease 
of  an  eternal  habitude.  Arraying  himself  in  all  the  per- 
fections of  Godhead,  and  putting  on  his  head  the  crown  of 
Deity,  he  assumes  his  seat  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Father, 
and  claims  a  community  of  supreme  honors.  Grandeur, 
which  the  heart  of  man  hath  not  imagined,  and  which 
even  his  apostles  could  not  glance  at  without  emotions  of 


68  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

unutterable  wonder,  he  speaks  of  without  any  effort,  and 
distributes  without  any  ostentation.  Astonishment  is  only 
for  those  to  whom  knowledge  is  novelty  ;  but- '  the  glory 
which  is  to  be  revealed'  to  us,  is  '  the  glory  which  he  had 
with  the  Father  before  the  world  was  : '  the  unapproacha- 
ble splendors  of  the  celestial  state,  he  speaks  of  as  ever 
present  to  his  mind,  as  the  natural  and  familiar  scenes  of 
his  Father's  house.  The  heavenly  heights,  to  which  we 
can  ascend  only  as  we  are  succored  and  raised  by  an  om- 
nipotent arm,  was  the  state  of  exaltation  with  which  he 
had  ever  moved  on  a  level,  and  from  which  he  had  visited 
us  only  by  accomplishing  a  laborious  descent.  He  car- 
ried our  views  of  his  greatness  from  the  present  to  the 
future ;  declared  that  his  final  doom  of  the  wicked  will  be, 
'  depart  from  me  ; '  importing  that  banishment  from  him 
will  be  exile  from  happiness,  the  consummation  of  human 
woe :  while  on  the  other  hand,  the  peculiar  and  eternal 
charm  of  that  world  where  all  is  glorious,  is  to  consist  in 
the  manifestation  and  enjoyment  of  his  presence.  *  Where 
I  am,  there  also  shall  my  servant  be.'  *  I  will  that  they 
be  with  me  where  I  am,  to  behold  my  glory.' 

Under  this  head,  it  is  needful  to  remark,  that  the  pervad- 
ing style  of  our  Lord's  teaching  is  that  of  assertion  and 
testimony.  While  it  pre-supposes  the  laws  of  reason,  it 
does  not,  nor  could  it  without  manifest  incongruity,  make 
an  appeal  to  them.  His  disclosures  of  truth  are  necessa- 
rily dogmatic.  But  since  man,  if  he  is  to  be  treated  as  a 
rational  being,  must  have  adequate  grounds  on  which  to 
rest  his  belief,  our  Lord  in  the  stead  of  arguments,  con- 
structed a  basis  of  miracles.  He  claimed  to  be  *  believed 
for  his  works '  sake.'  They  were  the  hand  of  God,  en- 
dorsing, and  attesting  as  true  whatever  he  revealed.  Hav- 
ing thus  acquired  a  right  to  dictate,  he  could  not  have  sub- 
mitted the  principles  he  announced  to  the  ordinary  process 


HIS       AUTHORITY.  69 

of  argumentation,  without  implying  that  human  reason- 
ing, our  present  impaired  perceptions  of  truth,  was  a  surer 
ground  for  reliance  than  the  purest  reason:  he  would  have 
been  expunging  faith  from  Christian  virtues,  exalting  hu- 
man reason,  or  that  which  stands  for  it,  above  the  wisdom 
of  God,  and  treating  it  as  though  in  the  sphere  of  religion 
it  were  perfect,  and  at  home  !  whereas  he  found  it  prostrate 
and  lost,  and  had  to  re-kindle  its  extinguished  torch  with 
the  very  first  elements  of  sacred  knowledge.  Surrounded 
with  divine  credentials,  he  took  his  stand  as  a  living  ora- 
cle, and  demanded  credence  of  all  who  heard  his  unreason- 
ed verities.  He  spoke  as  one  having  authority,  addressing 
himself  to  humility,  obedience,  and  implicit  faith.  Every 
science  has  its  data ;  fundamental  principles  assumed  to 
be  true,  on  the  unquestioned  authority  of  which  all  its 
deductions  and  applications  rest;  in  the  science  of  the- 
ology, the  sayings  of  Christ  are  ultimate  truths.  From 
these,  as  from  first  principles,  all  our  reasoning  in  religion 
must  proceed :  to  call  in  question  their  authority,  would  be 
to  disturb  and  subvert  the  foundations  of  truth.  His  dic- 
tates constitute  the  rudiments  of  sacred  science  ;  and  they 
are  to  be  acquiesced  in,  as  the  reasons  of  duty,  and  the  laws 
of  faith. 

III.  A  third  quality,  which  imparted  a  style  of  awful 
authority  to  our  Lord's  teaching,  was  solemnity.  In  the 
Old  Testament,  as  I  live,  saith  the  Lord,  is  a  form  of  di- 
vine asseveration,  which  compels  attention  ;  and  which,  by 
giving  the  existence  of  Jehovah  in  pledge,  imparts  to  sen- 
timents already  grave  in  themselves  the  exceeding  awful- 
ness  of  an  infinite  oath.  Answerable  to  this,  is  that  re- 
markable formula  employed  by  Christ,  and  peculiar  to  him, 
with  which  he  so  often  commands  attention,  as  with  the 
blast  of  a  trumpet,  *  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you.'  The 


70  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

reiteration  of  the  first  word,  proceeding  from  the  lips  of 
him  who  is  'the  truth,'  and  '  the  word  of  God,'  invests  the 
announcements  which  follow  with  a  superlative  sanctity 
and  solemnity,  as  if  they  came  to  us  legibly  impressed  with 
the  stamp  and  seal  of  God.  Solemnity  of  address,  at  all 
times  affecting,  is  never  more  so  than  when,  like  elemental 
thunder,  it  proclaims  the  terrors  of  the  Lord.  Whoever 
may  be  the  organ  of  divine  denunciation,  he  has  only  to 
evince  that  he  feels  the  weight  and  burden  of  his  message, 
in  order  to  obtain  respectful  audience  from  the  conscience 
of  the  sinner,  and  to  awaken  and  authenticate  its  most  hid- 
den forebodings.  But  what  an  appalling  accession  to  the 
Redeemer's  power  of  rebuke  is  derived  from  the  consider- 
ation of  his  prevailing  compassion,  as  well  as  of  his  mys- 
terious resources  to  fulfil  and  to  punish.  The  voice  of 
him  who  was  'meek  and  lowly  in  heart,'  uttering  the 
hoarse  and  exasperated  accents  of  wrath,  is  more  than  a 
recollection  of  Sinai.  But  how  was  it  possible  that  even 
mercy  itself  could  visit  a  scene  like  that  which  he  travers- 
ed, and  maintain  a  style  of  unmingled  tenderness.  Ac- 
cordingly, there  were  occasions,  when,  surveying  the 
proud,  hypocritical,  and  guilty  throngs  which  crowded  his 
path,  he  clothed  himself  with  zeal  as  with  a  garment,  and, 
with  a  consuming  jealousy  for  the  insulted  majesty  of  God, 
'  took  them  into  his  lips,  and  smote  them  with  the  sword 
of  his  mouth.'  Witness  the  cleansing  of  the  temple.  In- 
tent on  gain,  the  Jews  had  converted  the  holy  place  into  a 
scene  of  sacrilegious  traffic ;  they  had  turned  the  ancient 
and  solemn  passover  itself  to  profit;  they  bartered  deep  in 
the  blood  of  human  souls  ;  they  worshipped  mammon  in 
his  Father's  house.  But '  suddenly  coming  to  his  temple,' 
he  flamed  around  its  hallowed  walls,  '  like  a  refiner's  fire,' 
and  with  the  tones  of  injured  and  insulted  Deity,  rained  on 
their  consciences  such  strokes  of  terrible  dismay,  that  they 


HIS       AUTHORITY.  71 

eagerly  sought  refuge  from  his  holy  indignation  in  flight, 
leaving  him  the  Lord,  and  sole  possessor  of  the  sanctuary. 
But  chiefly,  let  us  recall  to  our  recollection  the  unbrok- 
en series  of  pregnant  woes  which  he   denounced   during 
his  last  visit  to  the  temple.     Long  had  he  walked,  like  an 
incarnate  conscience,  through  their  guilty  land  :  and  often 
had  they  been   troubled,  and  trembled  at  the  rebuke  of  his 
sacred  presence.     Having  nearly  filled  the  capacious  meas- 
ure of  their  iniquity  by  rejecting  him,   they  were  about  to 
make  it   overflow  by  his  crucifixion.     Undeterred  by  the 
appaling  prospect,  he   came  with  unfaltering   step  to  the 
scene  of  his  sufferings,  to  finish  the  work  which  was  given 
him  to  do.     Finding  himself  surrounded  in  the  temple,  by 
a  large  assemblage  of  Jewish  doctors,  scribes,  and  lawyers, 
and  pharisees,  the  very  elements  and  essence  of  the  nation's 
guilt;  he  assailed  and  demolished  the  enormous  fabric  of 
sanctimonious  hypocrisy,    which   their   laborious  impiety 
had  reared,  and,  with  the  fidelity  and   fearlessness  of  the 
king  of  martyrs,  denounced  and  delivered  his  final  protest 
against  the  pride  and  the  power  which  upheld  it.     They 
had  occasionally  heard  his  fearful  comminations before,  and 
trembled  for  their  security  for  every  word  was  a  weapon ; 
but  now  having  regularly,  invested  and  approached  their 
fortified  guilt,  he  opened  on  them  the  dreadful  artillery  of 
his  divine  malediction.     An  occasional  flash  had  before 
apprised  them  that  a  storm  might  be  near  ;    but  now,  hav- 
ing collected  together  all  the  materials  of  tempest  into  one 
black  and  fearful  mass,  and  having  awed  them  to  silence 
as  nature  is  hushed  when  awaiting  a  crisis,  he  discharged 
its  tremendous  contents,   in  one   volleyed  and   prolonged 
explosion,    on  their   guilty   and   unsheltered  heads.     He 
arraigned  them  as  though  he  had  already  ascended   the 
seat  of  doom,  and  laid  open  all  the  sepulchral  recesses  of 
their  iniquity,  as  though  he   read  from  the  book  of  God's 


72  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

remembrance.  Hypocrisy  was  unable  to  conceal  itself  in 
the  clouds  of  incense  wbich  it  offered.  The  proud,  the 
covetous,  the  intolerant,  he  confounded  and  covered  with 
the  shame  of  detection  and  conscious  guilt.  As  they  came 
up  for  judgment,  in  succession,  he  fulminated  against  them 
the  woes  and  imprecations  of  his  wrath,  'the  wrath  of  the 
Lamb,'  in  tones  anticipating  those  of  their  final  sentence. 
'  Woe  unto  you,  scribes  and  pharisees,  hypocrites  ! '  '  One 
woe  is  past,  and  behold,  another  woe  cometh.'  '  Woe  unto 
you,  scribes  and  pharisees,  hypocrites !  ye  serpents,  ye 
generation  of  vipers,  how  can  ye  escape  the  damnation  of 
hell  ?  '  That  solemn  scene,  remembering  the  character  of 
the  Great  Reprover,  and  the  impending  judgments  of 
which  it  was  prognostic,  may  well  remind  us  of  the  seven 
apocalyptic  thunders  uttering  their  voices  ;  and  often,  may 
we  suppose,  would  the  echoes  of  his  denunciations  return 
upon  the  ears  of  those  who  heard  them  in  after  years,  like 
the  distant,  but  quailing  reverberations  of  the  mount  that 
burned. 

IV.  Another  characteristic  of  the  authority  which 
marked  the  teaching  of  our  Lord,  and  the  last  I  propose 
to  illustrate,  is  that  which  he  discovered  in  his  legislative 
and  judicial  capacity.  To  disturb  the  majestic  repose  of 
the  divine  law,  argues,  on  the  part  of  him  who  attempts  it, 
either  the  final  stage  of  insane  impiety,  or  an  authority 
clothed  with  the  prerogatives  of  the  original  lawgiver.  In 
this  latter  exalted  predicament  the  Saviour  claimed  to  stand  ; 
'As  the  Father,'  said  he,  *  hath  life  in  himself,  so  hath  he 
given  to  the  Son,  to  have  life  in  himself;  and  hath  given 
him  authority  to  execute  judgment  also,  because  he  is  the 
Son  of  man.'  All  things  are  delivered  unto  me  of  my 
Father.  In  the  exercise  of  his  legal  supremacy,  he  may 
be  said  to  have  revised  the  laws  of  heaven.  Not  only 


HIS       AUTHORITY.  73 

did  he  put  on  them  his  own  authoritative  interpretation,  from 
which  he  permits  no  appeal,  and  by  which  he  greatly 
extended  the  sphere  of  their  jurisdiction,  in  bestowing 
forgiveness,  he  even  controlled  and  suspended  their  opera- 
tion ;  he  pronounced  what  part  of  the  divine  code  was  of 
perpetual,  and  what  of  temporary  obligation ;  he  repealed 
its  positive  enactments,  and  enjoined  others  ;  while,  by 
laying  open  the  scenes  of  the  final  judgment,  and  speaking 
as  from  the  mysterious  cross,  he  placed  it  on  another  basis, 
infused  into  it  a  new  vigor,  and  augmented  its  force  in  the 
highest  degree. 

When  the  sanctimonious  pharisees,  impatient  to  accuse 
him,  but  despairing  of  a  charge,  alleged  against  him  the 
trivial  act  of  his  hungry  disciples,  in  plucking  the  ears  of 
corn  on  the  sabbath  day,  he  not  only  established  the  inno- 
cence of  the  deed,  but  with  what  an  air  of  inimitable  dig- 
nity did  he  cast  over  it  the  ample  shield  of  his  own  pre- 
rogative ;  *  the  Son  of  man,'  said  he,  is  Lord  even  of  the 
sabbath  day.'  On  another  occasion,  when  the  same  un- 
appeasable intolerance,  and  cloked  hypocrisy,  construed 
an  act  of  healing  into  a  breach  of  the  sabbath,  he  again 
asserted  his  superiority  to  the  law.  But,  beyond  this,  he 
expounded  his  right  to  that  superiority ;  he  declared,  that 
as  the  operations  of  the  Father  knew  no  intermission,  so 
neither  did  his  ;  that  as  the  machinery  of  Providence  does 
not  pause  in  deference  to  the  sabbatic  law,  but  continues, 
through  every  moment  of  time,  to  fill  the  universe  with 
its  agency,  so  he  acknowledged  no  restraint,  but  claimed 
the  same  unlimited  scope,  and  infinite  freedom  of  activity 
for  his  beneficence :  thus  clearly  placing  his  own  miracu- 
lous works  on  a  level  with  the  works  of  God:  demanding 
the  same  consideration  for  their  character  ;  and  assuming 
an  equality,  or  rather  an  identity,  with  the  Supreme,  in 
will,  and  right,  and  power.  *  My  Father  worketh  until 


74  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

now,  and  I  work.  Whatsoever  things  the  Father  doeth, 
those  things  the  Son  also  doeth  in  like  manner.'  But  his 
dispensation  with  the  law  of  the  sabbath  was  only  a  speci- 
men of  his  supreme  authority.  By  issuing  the  final  and 
sovereign  mandate  to  his  disciples,  *  Go  into  all  the  world, 
and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature;'  he  virtually 
annulled  the  Jewish  ritual,  and  repealed  a  whole  economy, 
casting  it  back  among  the  things  that  were:  while,  by 
replacing  it  with  ordinances  of  his  own  enactment,  and  sa- 
cred to  his  worship,  he  proclaimed  himself  the  founder  and 
legislator  of  a  new  religion. 

For  the  establishment  of  his  religion,  a  display  of  mi- 
raculous power  was  necessary ;  and,  accordingly,  he  not 
only  declared  his  ability  and  rights  to  control  at  pleasure 
the  laws  of  nature,  he  placed  those  laws  as  he  saw  fit,  un- 
der the  subjection  of  his  apostles  also.  {  When  he  had 
called  unto  him  his  twelve  disciples,  he  gave  them  power 
against  unclean  spirits,  to  cast  them  out,  and  to  heal  all 
manner  of  sickness,  and  all  manner  of  disease.  And  these 
signs  shall  follow  them  that  believe :  in  my  name  shall 
they  work  miracles.'  *  And  whatsoever  ye  shall  ask  in  my 
name,  that  /  will  do.' 

The  exercise  of  his  supremacy,  in  the  instances  we 
have  cited,  was  accompanied  by  the  most  illustrious  dis- 
plays of  authority,  in  developing  and  enforcing  the  eter- 
nal and  unchangeable  laws  of  morality.  The  morality  of 
the  Mosaic  code  was  of  divine  dictation;  but,  in  revising 
its  statutes  and  giving  it  perfection,  he  introduces  his  new 
prescription  with  the  preamble,  '  Ye  have  heard  that  it 
was  said  to  them  of  old  time — but  I  say  unto  you  ; '  thus 
placing  his  own  legislation  on  a  footing  with  the  authority 
of  Sinai ;  and,  if  not  actually  effacing  the  original  tables, 
to  make  room  for  his  own  statutes,  yet  inserting  and  incor- 
porating these  statutes  at  pleasure,  and  publishing  them  as  a 


HIS       AUTHORITY.  75 

part  of  the  eternal  law.  How  tender,  yet  inconcealable,  the 
tone  of  authority  in  which  he  said  to  his  disciples,  when 
he  was  only  a  step  from  the  cross.  '  A  new  commandment 
give  I  unto  you,  that  ye  love  one  another.'  To  regard 
this  as  a  mere  republication,  seems  to  impugn  the  modesty 
which  distinguished  his  character,  for  it  represents  him  as 
claiming  originality  and  novelty  for  that  which  is  only  the 
revival  of  an  obsolete  law.  But  with  that  ancient  precept 
which  enjoined  love  to  our  neighbor,  this  new  command 
has  no  affinity  except  in  appearance;  it  differs  in  its  na- 
ture, its  objects,  and  in  the  peculiar  considerations  by 
which  it  is  enforced.  That  prescribes  the  love  of  benevo- 
lence ;  this  requires  the  love  of  complacency  :  that  enjoins 
loving  kindness,  the  love  of  the  kind,  of  man  as  man  ;  this 
enjoins  the  love  of  character,  of  virtue,  of  man  as  Chris- 
tian ;  while  its  claim  to  novelty  is  completed  by  the  divine 
Legislator  proposing  his  own  example,  as  the  model  and 
motive  to  obedience.  But  that  which  displays  his  superi- 
ority to  all  human,  all  merely  delegated  authority,  and 
which  places  him  on  a  level  with  the  Supreme  Power  is, 
that  having  enacted  laws,  he  can  ensure  obedience.  The 
highest  praise  of  an  earthly  lawgiver,  is  to  adapt  his  laws 
as  nearly  as  possible  to  the  claims  of  abstract  right,  on  the 
one  hand  ;  and  to  the  peculiar  state  of  the  people  receiving 
them,  on  the  other.  He  can  do  little  more  to  promote 
obedience  to  them,  than  by  publicly  chastising  the  refrac- 
tory and  disobedient.  But  the  great  Prophet  and  Law- 
giver of  the  Christian  church,  having  consulted  our  nature 
in  the  requirements  he  makes,  can  then  conform  our  na- 
ture to  his  authority ;  having  authoritatively  announced 
his  will,  he  can  carry  into  ail  the  recesses  of  the  soul,  and, 
in  perfect  harmony  with  our  free  volitions,  can  so  iden- 
tify it  with  our  thoughts  and  aims,  so  blend  it  with  the 
stream  and  current  of  our  consciousness,  that  in  yielding 


76  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

obedience  to  his  word,  we  are  only  obeying  the  actings  and 
impulses  of  our  own  minds.  Hence  the  language  of  con- 
scious authority,  and  efficient  power,  which  he  employed 
in  relation  to  the  conversion  of  the  Gentiles  :  *  Other  sheep 
I  have,  which  are  not  of  this  fold,  them  also  /  must  bring 
and  they  shall  hear  my  voice  ;  and  there  shall  be  one  fold 
and  one  shepherd.'  Hence  too,  he  could  say  to  whom  he 
chose,  '  Follow  me  ;'  and  the  individual  addressed  *  arose 
and  followed  him.'  At  this  disenchanting  command,  the 
spirit  of  the  world  fled  from  the  heart ;  the  thousand  ties 
which  bound  it  to  the  earth  were  snapped  asunder ;  and 
the  man  suddenly  found  himself  emancipated,  and  walking 
in  the  Saviour's  train.  The  omnipotent  effect  with  which 
he  spoke  to  the  tempestuous  elements,  and  to  demons  more 
fierce  and  fearful  than  they,  was  only  a  type  and  pledge  of 
his  unlimited  power  over  the  mind  of  man.  He  speaks, 
and  it  is  done  ;  his  people  are  '  made  willing  in  the  day  of 
his  power.' 

But  of  all  his  displays  of  authority,  his  forgiveness  of 
sin  is  immeasurably  the  greatest.  This,  according  to  hu- 
man conceptions,  is  the  highest  and  uttermost  prerogative 
of  the  Supreme.  It  is  to  ascend  a  throne  above  the  law- 
giver, and  to  silence  his  voice,  and  suspend  his  functions, 
for  a  reason  paramount  to  all  law  and  more  comprehen- 
sive. It  is  to  overrule  the  claims  of  justice,  and  stopping 
it  in  its  full  career  towards  the  sinner,  to  exhibit  a  reason 
for  mercy,  to  which  justice  bows  with  reverence,  and  before 
which  it  retires.  Law,  the  dictate  of  infinite  wisdom,  is 
the  rule  by  which  man  is  to  act  towards  God  ;  but  forgive- 
ness is  a  dispensation,  a  reason  issuing  from  a  deeper  re- 
cess of  his  mysterious  nature,  and  by  which  he  chooses  to 
act  towards  us.  But  this  prerogative,  essentially  divine, 
this  high  and  incommunicable  right,  Jesus  exercised,  and 
vindicated  his  competence  to  do  so.  '  Son,'  said  he  to  the 


HIS       AUTHORITY.  77 

paralytic  man,  '  be  of  good  cheer ;  thy  sins  are  forgiven 
thee ;  and,  behold,  some  of  the  scribes  said  within  them- 
selves, Why  doth  he  thus  speak  blasphemies?  who  can 
forgive  sins  but  God  alone  ?  But  Jesus  knowing  their 
thoughts,  said,  why  do  ye  think  evil  in  your  hearts?  For 
which  is  easier,  to  say,  Thy  sins  are  forgiven  ;  or  to  say, 
Arise  and  walk  ?  But  that  ye  may  know  the  Son  of  man 
upon  earth  hath  a  right  to  forgive  sins,  (he  saith  to  the 
paralytic,)  Arise,  take  up  thy  couch,  and  go  to  thy  house.' 
Thus,  forestalling  the  functions  of  the  last  day,  he  remitted 
the  claim  of  justice  on  a  sinful  being;  erased  his  guilt 
from  the  book  of  God ;  changed  the  relations  of  an  ac- 
countable creature  to  the  Supreme  Governor ;  and,  in  effect 
asserted  that  he  possessed  the  power  of  taking  from  the 
inmost  soul  the  sting  of  conscious  guilt.  While,  by  de- 
claring that  he  retained  this  power,  though  he  was  then 
the  Son  of  man  upon  earth,  he  carries  our  thoughts  to  the 
state  whence  he  had  descended,  and  reminds  us  that  no  dis- 
tance from  his  throne  above,  no  depth  of  humiliation  to 
which  he  might  condescend,  can  deprive  him  of  his  right 
to  pardon  ;  that  as  it  is  exclusively,  so  it  is  inalienably  di- 
vine ;  and  that  therefore  he  is  free  to  use  it  as  God,  though 
for  a  time  he  may  choose  to  rank  as  the  Son  of  man. 

Preceding  prophets,  jealous  for  the  divine  honor,  had 
scrupulously  guarded  against  the  remotest  suspicion  that 
they  spake  in  their  own  name ;  they  distinctly  confessed 
their  delegated  capacity,  and  perpetually  appealed  to  the 
authority  which  sent  them.  But  Jesus,  we  have  seen, 
without  any  modification  or  reserve,  employed  the  lan- 
guage of  supreme  personal  authority.  He  did  not,  indeed, 
in  any  way  impart  the  impression  of  an  interest,  or  even 
an  existence,  detached  from  the  Father.  The  authority 
by  which  he  spoke,  though  expressly  his  own,  was,  by  iden- 
tity of  nature,  the  authority  of  the  Father  also.  As  often 


78  THEGREAT       TEACHER. 

as  he  exercised  the  functions  of  the  legislator,  he  placed 
himself,  if  I  may  say  so,  on  a  level,  and  in  a  line,  with  the 
eternal  throne :  so  that  its  glory  fell  directly  upon  him, 
and  by  him  was  again  reflected  back,  mingled  with  the 
lustre  of  his  own  greatness.  While  he  stood  forth  dis- 
tinctly in  his  own  personality,  and  addressed  us  in  his  own 
name,  he  stood  in  so  perfect  a  conjunction  with  the  Deity, 
and  so  far  within  the  borders  of  the  encircling  light,  that 
his  voice  came  with  the  authority  of  an  oracle  from  the 
central  glory.  '  Glorify  thy  Son,  that  thy  Son  also  may 
glorify  thee.  I  am  in  the  Father,  and  the  Father  is  in  me. 
No  man  knoweth  the  Father  but  the  Son,  neither  know- 
eth  any  man  the  Son  but  the  Father.  Whatsoever  things 
the  Father  doeth,  these  also  doeth  the  Son  likewise.  He 
that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father  also.  I  and  my  Fa- 
ther are  one.' 

In  closing  our  illustrations  of  the  authority  of  the  Sa- 
viour's teaching,  it  may  not  be  irrelevant  briefly  to  remark, 
that  not  only  was  that  authority  exempt  from  those  deduc- 
tions to  which  the  force  of  mere  human  instruction  is  liable, 
hut  that  it  must  have  been  greatly  augmented  by  every 
consideration  of  an  opposite  kind. 

Nothing  can  be  imagined  more  fatal  to  the  power  of  a 
public  teacher,  than  a  lurking  suspicion,  a  secret  misgiv- 
ing of  the  truth,  the  value  or  consistency  of  his  doctrine. 
In  such  a  case,  the  mind  may  be  said  to  have  lost  its  pow- 
er of  projection,  its  professed  aim  will  not  be  reached.  Any 
thing  short  of  full  conviction  will  betray  itself  to  his  audi- 
ence, in  a  way  inviting  their  suspicion,  and  creating  disbe- 
lief. Equally  unfriendly  to  the  weight  of  his  instructions, 
is  a  conscious  inability  to  refer  them  to  those  first  princi- 
ples from  which  they  derive  their  authority ;  a  want  of 
cordial  sympathy  with  their  practical  influence;  a  sense 
of  discordance  between  that  influence  and  his  present  con- 


HIS       AUTHORITY. 

duct ;  a  painful  uncertainty  concerning  their  success  ;  or, 
lastly,  a  doubt  of  his  own  eligibility  and  right  to  the  office 
of  teacher. 

Now,  not  merely  was  the  Saviour  exempt,  by  necessity  of 
nature,  from  each  of  these  foes  to  authoritative  teaching  ; 
the  mount,  from  which  he  sometimes  taught,  was  only  an 
emblem  of  the  moral  elevation  on  which  he  always  stood, 
where  every  thing  was  present  to  augment  the  pervading 
power  of  his  preaching,  and  from  whence  he  spoke  with, 
an  authority  exclusively  his  own.  To  convince  the  incre- 
dulity of  others  that  he  came  from  God,  he  often  referred 
to  his  being  heralded  by  John ;  to  his  announcement  by 
the  voice  from  the  excellent  glory;  and  to  his  affluence  in 
divine  qualifications  and  miraculous  powers.  For  himself, 
he  could  not  have  felt  a  stronger  assurance  of  the  fact,  had 
all  the  heirarchies  and  state  of  heaven,- constantly  and  vis- 
ibly stood  aroundt  him,  an  amphitheatre  of  living  glory,  to 
corroborate  his  mission,  and  authenticate  every  sentence 
he  uttered. 

So  perfect  was  his  example,  that  had  it  been  possible  for 
the  least  inconsistency  to  have  existed  between  his  instruc- 
tions and  his  life,  we  should  without  hesitation,  have 
sought  the  defect  in  his  teaching.  But  such  a  discrepancy 
was  impossible.  In  every  precept  he  taught,  he  felt  that 
he  was  only  expounding  his  own  life,  reading  from  the 
holy  volume  of  his  own  heart.  Virtue  found  itself  re- 
assured in  his  presence  ;  and,  having  imbibed  courage  and 
strength  from  his  looks,  went  to  complete  the  conquest  of 
sin.  Instead  of  pointing  his  hearers  to  the  tables  of  stone, 
he  could  invite  them  to  learn  of  him  ;  and  the  holy  law 
rejoiced  the  while  in  its  living  representative.  He  could 
look  round  on  a  nation  of  witnesses,  and  say,  '  Which 
of  you  convicteth  me  of  sin?  '  with  the  certainty  that  the 
challenge  could  not  be  accepted.  But  what  amazing 


80  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

weight  must  this  consideration  have  lent  to  his  instructions, 
what  power  to  his  rebukes,  what  authority  and  force  to  his 
commands!  Truth  never  languished  on  his  lips,  never 
suffered  in  his  hands,  from  want  of  sympathy  in  its  advo- 
cate. *  To  this  end  was  I  born,'  said  he,  '  and  for  this 
cause  came  I  into  the  world,  that  I  should  bear  witness  unto 
the  truth.'  And  as  often  as  it  issued  from  his  tongue,  it 
came  with  the  freshness  of  a  new  revelation  ;  was  announ- 
ced with  an  earnestness  commensurate  with  its  intrinsic 
importance,  and  with  the  momentous  results  depending  on 
its  success  :  and  was  defended  with  the  devotedness  and 
zeal  of  a  champion  prepared  to  die  in  its  behalf. 

Such  is  the  present  limitation  of  our  knowledge,  and  our 
constant  liability  to  err,  that  diffidence  in  the  announcement 
of  our  opinions  is  accounted  a  virtue.  But  he,  who  came 
forth  from  God  to  be  the  light  of  the  world,  spoke  on  eve- 
ry subject  with  the  unfaltering  assurance  of  certain  knowl- 
edge. To  him,  truth,  all  truth  was,  in  a  sense,  ever  pres- 
ent and  self-evident.  Properly  speaking,  he  uttered  no 
mere  sentiments,  notions,  or  opinions,  but  only  truths.  He 
did  not  speak  on  probability  and  credit:  his  assertions 
were  sustained  on  ultimate  principles  and  personal  knowl- 
edge. He  saw  intuitively,  that  whatever  was  opposed  to 
his  doctrine,  however  plausible  as  conjecture,  or  deeply 
rooted  in  the  popular  faith,  was  delusion  and  falsehood. 
1  Everyone  that  is  of  the  truth,'  said  he,  *  heareth  my  voice.' 
And  not  only  was  he  assured  of  the  particular  doctrine,  he 
was  perfectly  acquainted  with  the  general  principle  whence 
it  drew  its  authority,  and  with  the  unchangeable  position 
that  principle  holds  in  the  system  of  universal  truth.  Hav- 
ing stood  in  the  counsel  of  God,  having  dwelt  in  the  pen- 
etralia, the  innermost  recesses  of  the  eternal  sanctuary, 
the  elements  and  originals  of  all  truth  were  familiarly 
present  to  his  mind.  Of  his  sublimest  supernatural  dis- 


HIS       AUTHORITY.  81 

closures  he  averred,  that  he  was  speaking  that  which  he 
knew,  and  testifying  that  which  he  had  seen.  He  came 
forth  from  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  as  the  Word,  the  Re- 
vealer  of  that  infinite  mind  in  which,  from  eternity,  he 
had  surveyed  the  archetype  and  idea  of  all  truth  ;  and  he 
spoke  with  the  authority  of  a  divine  oracle. 

But,  besides  the  consciousness  that  he  was  the  Word 
and  the  Wisdom  of  God,  his  discourses  must  have  derived 
an  accession  of  power  from  the  knowledge  that  he  was 
unfolding  truth  of  the  highest  order — the  words  of  eternal 
life.  Science  of  all  kinds  is  distinction  and  power;  and 
he  who  imparts  it  is  a  benefactor  to  his  species :  but  the 
knowledge  which  Jesus  came  to  unfold  was  emphatically 
the  Gospel ;  truth  which  God  deems  important,  which  had 
been  revolved  from  eternity  in  his  infinite  mind,  which 
enters  into  his  purposes  and  involves  his  glory ;  a  revela- 
tion so  essential  to  our  well-being,  and  every  way  so  mo- 
mentous, that  it  not  only  disdains  comparison  with  the  dis- 
coveries of  man,  but  engrossing  to  itself  the  undivided  at- 
tention of  the  only  begotten  Son  of  God,  would  have  held 
its  majesty  debased  had  it  been  mingled,  even  on  his  hal- 
lowed lips,  with  the  meaner  topics  of  human  science.  His 
mission  contemplated  our  race,  as  immortal  beings  labor- 
ing under  the  frown  of  incensed  justice;  and  standing 
ignorant,  helpless,  and  exposed,  on  the  verge  of  a  gulf  of 
irretrievable  ruin.  Alive  to  all  the  horrors  of  our  condi- 
tion, he  came  with  the  message  and  means  of.  deliverance  ; 
he  brought  from  heaven  an  express  assurance  of  complete 
relief.  Other  knowledge  may  be  acquired  by  ordinary 
means,  its  worth  may  be  computed,  it  may  be  dispensed  with 
altogether;  but  the  way  of  salvation  could  only  be  made 
known  by  God  himself:  while  its  utter  indispensableness 
and  infinite  value  appear  from  the  fact,  that  we  must  have 
it  or  perish.  'I  am  come,'  said  Christ,  'a  light  into  the 


THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

world;'  and,  as  he  ascended  the  firmament  of  truth,  he 
shone  with  the  sublime  consciousness,  that,  were  he  to  with- 
draw his  beams  and  retire,  the  world  would  be  immersed 
in  eternal  night :  but  that  as  many  as  should  walk  in  his 
light,  would  be  brought  from  the  darkness  arid  distance  of 
sin,  into  the  immediate  vision  and  fruition  of  God.  He 
could  stand  forth  and  challenge  the  profound  attention  of 
the  world,  with,  the  full  conviction  that  he  was  not  only  the 
greatest  benefactor  it  would  ever  behold,  but  that  he  com- 
bined within  himself  ail  the  several  qualities  of  beneficence 
to  be  found  in  the  universe  ;  for  he  felt  that,  in  imparting 
the  gospel,  he  was  pouring  out  the  resources  of  heaven, 
and  conferring  an  antidote  for  the  miseries  of  mankind. 

Add  to  this,  the  Son  of  God  was  perfectly  exempt  from 
the  chilling  perception  that  his  motives  were  alloyed.  It 
was  peculiar  to  him,  of  all  born  of  women,  to  be  entirely 
free  from  the  taint  of  selfishness.  '  tie  pleased  not  him- 
self.' The  whole  of  his  course  was  a  history  of  pure  dis- 
interested benevolence.  He  had  assumed  our  nature  for 
no  other  purpose  than  to  display  the  glory  of  God  in  the 
happiness  of  man ;  and  for  this  end  he  breathed  out  his 
life.  When  uttering  his  largest  professions  of  sympathy 
and  love,  he  rejoiced  in  the  secret  consciousness  that  he 
intended  to  do  abundantly  more  than  he  had  said ;  that, 
besides  the  stream  of  goodness  and  truth  which  issued 
daily  from  his  lips,  he  held  within  his  heart  a  fountain  of 
compassion,  clear  as  crystal,  as  yet  untouched ;  but  which, 
at  the  appointed  hour,  would  issue  forth,  far  exceeding  ex- 
pectation, and  blessing  the  world. 

And  beyond  all  this,  what  must  have  imparted  vigor  to 
the  tone  of  his  teaching,  was  the  unclouded  prospect  which 
he  enjoyed  of  its  ultimate  and  universal  success.  *  This 
gospel,'  he  could  say,  *  shall  be  preached  for  a  witness 
among  all  nations.1  In  its  immediate  results,  indeed,  it 


HIS       AUTHORITY. 

but  too  fully  realized  the  representation  of  the  sower,  that 
went  forth  to  sow.  But  he  clearly  foresaw  that  the  incor- 
ruptible seed  of  his  word,  though  for  a  time  it  might  seem 
to  be  lost,  was  destined  again  to  spring  out  of  the  earth, 
producing  a  harvest  of  holiness  for  heaven.  In  praying 
that  his  church  might  be  sanctified  by  the  truth,  he  felt 
that  he  was  praying  with  the  force  of  an  almighty  decree'; 
that,  in  the  divine  intention,  his  prayer  was  answered  as 
soon  as  uttered  ;  while  he  beheld,  in  anticipation,  a  host 
which  no  one  could  number,  already  encircling  the  throne 
above,  robed  in  the  purity  his  prayer  desired.  A  part  of 
the  joy  which  was  set  before  him,  consisted  in  the  distinct 
perception  of  a  scene,  in  which  his  truth,  armed  with  the 
Omnipotence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  having  completed  the 
conquest  of  error,  given  law  to  the  world,  and  impressed 
her  image  on  every  thing  human,  was  receiving  the  hom- 
age of  a  renovated  race,  and  reigning  in  the  new  heavens, 
and  the  new  earth,  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness. 

Recollecting  that  causes  such  as  these  concurred  in  the 
teaching  of  the  Son  of  God,  and  bearing  in  mind  the  speci- 
mens we  have  adduced  from  his  divine  discourses,  we  are 
fully  prepared  to  hear  it  testified,  that  *  the  people  were  as- 
tonished at  his  doctrine; '  and  that,  '  when  Jesus  had  end- 
ed these  sayings,  the  people  were  astonished  at  his  doc- 
trine •  for  he  taught  them  as  one  having  authority,  and  not 
as  the  scribes.'  Their  established  teachers,  having  long 
since  completed  the  conquest  of  common  sense,  labored  to 
preserve  the  fruits  of  their  victory,  by  the  endless  repeti- 
tion of  fables  and  childish  traditions.  The  loftiest  models 
of  public  instruction  with  which  they  were  acquainted,  con- 
sisted in  the  heartless  recitement  of  frivolous  opinions 
and  trivial  ceremonies,  confirmed  by  quotations  more  je- 
june and  frivolous  still ;  the  very  essence  of  insipidity. 
What  then  must  have  been,  the  astonishment  and  invoiun- 


84  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

tary  homage  with  which  they  listened  to  the  discourses  of 
the  Son  of  God.     It  was   an  era  in  the   history   of  their 
minds.     In  their   opinion,  he  spake  as  never  man  spake. 
For,  besides  that  he  addressed  them  in  his  own  name,  as 
the  highest  authority,  he  laid   open  scenes  the  most  novel, 
and  subjects  the  most  momentous  ;  carried  his  appeals  into 
their  conscience  ;  made  them  once  more  feel  that  they  were 
immortal  men  ;    stripped  off  every  mask,   and   conveyed 
them,  with  their  sins  upon  them,  to  the  throne  of  God  : 
annihilated  the  distance  between  them  and  the  judgment 
day;  placed  them  on   the   threshold  of  the   infinite  and 
everlasting ;  and  effaced  the  recollections  of  the  present,  by 
the  absorbing  realities  of  the  eternal  future.     Some  hailed 
his  preaching  as  a  new  and   glorious  light,  while  others 
shunned  it  as  the   forked  and  fatal  lightning ;    each   class 
bearing  involuntary  testimony  to  its  commanding  power. 
And,  associated,  as  it  naturally  would  be  in  their   minds, 
with  the  recollection  of  his  miraculous  deeds  ;  remember- 
ing that  the   demons  had   quailed,  and   the  tempestuous 
ocean    grown  quiet   in   the  presence  in  which  they  were 
standing;    that   the   whirlwind   had  revered  the  voice  to 
which  they  were  listening  ;  they  could  not  but  tacitly  con- 
fess that  he  spoke  with  an  authority  which,  if  the  sun  were 
extinguished,  might  say,  '  Let   there  be  light,'  and  light 
would  be. 

In  concluding  an  essay,  already,  I  fear,  too  much  pro- 
longed, the  reader  will  allow  me  to  suggest  its  practical 
application.  Whatever  may  be  the  characteristics  of  a 
perfect  instructor,  he  is  entitled  to  look  for  the  counterpart 
of  each  in  those  he  addresses.  The  authority,  then,  which 
distinguishes  the  teaching  of  Christ  should  be  met,  by  his 
disciples,  with  submission  and  acquiescence.  It  is  obvious 
to  all,  that  the  mental  impression  received  from  any  object, 
depends  materially  on  the  state  of  the  mind  itself.  '  If  any 


HIS       AUTHORITY.  85 

man  will  do  the  will  of  God,'  said  Jesus,  *  he  shall  know 
of  the  doctrine   whether  it  be  of  God,  or  whether  I  speak 
of  myself.3      His  gospel  is  addressed  to  our  moral  nature  ; 
and  the  only  mind  in  a  state  to  do  justice  to  the  divinity  of 
its  claims,  is  that  which  is  trained  and  disciplined  to  habits 
of  holy  obedience.     If  we  take  to  it  a  spirit  which  it  does 
not  approve,  we  are  likely  to  bring  from  it  a  spirit  which 
it  has  not   imparted.     Even   the   ancient  heathens,   when, 
they  went  to  consult  their  idol  gods,  did  not  expect  to  suc- 
ceed without    due  preparation.     Their    approaches    were 
marked  by  acts  of  reverence  and  self-purification.     Before 
they  hoped  for  the  least  oracular  intimation,   days  were 
consumed  in  sacrifice,  ablution,  and  meditation.     They  did 
not    degrade   even  their   false  deities,   by  supposing  they 
would  speak    in  the  ear  of  levity,  or  waste  instruction  on 
an  irreverent  and  polluted  mind.     Were  we  creatures  de- 
void of  a  moral  nature,  or  did  the  gospel  address  the  un- 
derstanding alone,  we  might  then  approach  it  as  we  go  to 
the  study  of  a  mathematical    truth,  as  beings  of  intellect 
only  ;  but  its  aim  is  the  heart ;  it  is  addressed  to  our  moral 
nature  ;    and  as  such,  it  claims  a  free  and  undisputed  in- 
gress to  the  throne  of  the  will.     If  it  flattered  our  import- 
ance by  submitting   its  truths  to  the  tribunal  of  reason, 
pride  would   then  be  no  unsuitable  preparation  for  receiv- 
ing it ;    but,  taking  for  granted  our  moral  disqualification, 
it  '  casts  down  imaginations,  and  every  high  thing  that  ex- 
alteth  itself  against  the  knowledge  of  God,  and  brings  into 
captivity  every  thought  to  the  obedience  of  Christ.'     Pro- 
ceeding on  the  supposition,  that  it  is  the  heart  which  in  its 
fall  has  dragged  down  the  faculties  of  the  soul,  it  proposes 
to  erect  them  again,  by  raising  and  restoring  the  degrading 
cause;  it   requires,    therefore,  that  in  the  process  they  be 
submissive  and  silent.     If  we  would  learn  of  Christ,  the 
soul  must  be  vacated  of  all  its  proud  prepossessions,  that 


00  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

there  may  be  room  to  prepare  him  a  seat  in  the  will.  If 
we  would  listen  to  his  voice  with  effect,  there  must  be  si- 
lence in  the  soul:  the  clamorous  pretensions  of  self-suffi- 
ciency must  be  rebuked;  and  putting-  on  the  robe  of  hu- 
mility, we  must  take  our  station  as  children  at  his  feet. 

But  that  submission  to  the  authority  of  Christ,  which 
forms  an  essential  qualification  in  his  disciples,  is  not  only 
opposed  to  the  pride  that  rejects  ;  it  is  intelligent  and  con- 
scious, and  therefore  equally  remote  from  that  unheeding 
acquiescence  which  admits  with  a  fatal  facility,  and  as  a 
matter  of  custom  and  course,  whatever  he  inculcates;  if 
the  former  of  these  is  the  disqualification  of  rebellion,  the 
latter  is  the  incapacity  of  death.  Perhaps  no  greater  ob- 
stacle can  be  named,  to  the  proper  reception  of  the  gospel, 
than  the  error,  alas!  how  common,  of  placing  religion  in 
a  bare  assent  to  its  truths ;  of  cherishing  a  settled  and  sat- 
isfied persuasion  that  we  are  Christians,  simply  because  we 
subscribe,  and  in  proportion  to  the  unthinking  readiness 
with  which  we  subscribe,  to  its  dictates.  So  effectually 
does  this  delusion  enclose  and  encase  the  heart,  that  '  the 
arrows  of  the  Lord,'  though  barbed  and  winged  by  an  an- 
gel's hand,  would  fail  to  '  stick  fast  in  it.'  So  potent  is  the 
spell,  that  it  enables  us  to  listen,  not  only  to  truths  the  most 
pungent,  but  even  to  the  description  which  pourtrays  the 
very  delusion  itself,  without  any  self-application  or  effect. 
With  such  certainty  does  it  turn  aside  and  ward  off  every 
salutary  impression,  that  like  a  building  defended  from  the 
lightnings  of  heaven  by  a  rod  of  steel,  we  can  venture 
amongst  the  forked  lightnings  of  the  truth,  and  yet  come 
out  from  them  fr^e,  unscathed,  and  untouched.  On  such 
a  state  of  mind,  the  voice  of  the  Great  Teacher  himself — • 
its  loudest,  its  most  solemn  and  authoritative  tones — are 
dissipated  and  lost. 

The  submission,  then,  which  he  demands,  is  that  which 


HIS       AUTHORITY.  87 

arises  from  conviction,  and  consists  in  the  self-surrender  of 
the  will;  that  which,  while  it  admits,  at  the  same  time 
'trembles  at  his  word.'  But  where  is  this  preparation  to 
be  obtained?  where,  but  at  the  throne  of  the  heavenly 
grace.  It  is  only  at  the  altar,  and  from  the  hand  of  God, 
we  can  receive  that  celestial  torch,  which  reveals  at  once 
our  own  incompetence,  and  the  dignity  and  glory  of  Christ. 
That  is  the  appointed  place  of  meeting  between  God  and 
the  soul,  where  he  puts  us  under  the  guidance  of  that  holy 
spirit,  who  leads  us  into  all  truth:  who  takes  the  things  of 
Christ  as  they  fall  from  his  lips,  and  conveys  them  as  liv- 
ing powers  into  the  obedient  heart:  who  prepares  and  de- 
livers us  into  the  mould  of  the  gospel,  that  we  may  take 
the  perfect  impress  of  its  author. 


ESSAY    II. 
ON  THE  ORIGINALITY  OF  OUR  LORD'S  TEACHING, 


SECTION    I. OF    GOD    THE    FATHER. 


'Never  man  spake  like  this  man.3 

'No  man  knoweth  the  Father  save  the  Son,  and  he  to  whomsoever  the  Son  will 
reveal  him.1 


IN  illustrating  the  originality  which  marked  the  instruc- 
tions of  our  blessed  Lord,  it  can  scarcely  be  necessary  to 
premise,  that  as  the  mode  of  his  teaching  will  receive  our 
separate  consideration,  we  shall  now  confine  ourselves  to 
its  subjects. 

Were  we  claiming  the  attribute  of  originality  for  an  un- 
inspired mind,  we  should  feel  as  if  we  were  establishing 
his  right  to  fame.  For  he  who  enlarges,  in  the  least,  the 
narrow  confines  of  human  knowledge,  is  said  to  confer 
imperishable  wealth  ;  to  redeem  our  mental  character ; 
and  thus,  owing  to  the  unfrequency  of  the  occurrence,  he 
renders  himself  an  object  of  homage  to  the  sp*ecies.  But 
this  is  a  quality,  which,  abstractedly  considered,  has  no 
moral  character  ;  it  is  a  blessing  or  a  curse,  only  according 
to  the  direction  which  it  takes,  and  the  service  in  which  it 
is  engaged. 

As  the  ultimate  object  of  our  Lord's  teaching,  was  of  a 
nature  entirely  practical,  it  requires  but  little  effort  of  the 
imagination  to  conceive  why,  if  his  praise  consists,  partly, 
in  being  so  original,  it  consists  also,  partly,  in  not  being 
more  original  than  he  is.  *  If  I  have  told  you  earthly 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  89 

things  and  ye  believe  not,  how  shall  ye  believe  if  I  tell  you 
heavenly  things  ? '  He  could  unquestionably  have  made 
disclosures  which  would  have  eclipsed,  and  consigned  to 
oblivion  all  prior  discoveries.  As  far  as  power  is  concern- 
ed, he  could  easily  have  embroiled  the  polemic  world,  by 
mystifying  without  misrepresenting,  every  subject  of  earth- 
ly dispute.  He  could  have  uttered  a  single  sentence,  which, 
by  furnishing  a  key  to  many  a  mystery,  and  affording  a 
glimpse  of  arcana  before  unknown,  would  have  collected 
and  concentrated  around  it  the  busy  thoughts  of  each  suc- 
cessive generation  to  the  close  of  time.  Opening  one  of 
the  numerous  doors  at  which  human  curiosity  has  been 
knocking  impatiently  forages,  he  could  have  admitted  men 
to  a  tree  of  knowledge,  from  which,  age  after  age,  they 
would  have  continued  to  pluck  and  partake,  until  the  trump 
of  God  surprised  them  at  their  unholy  feast,  and  found 
them  unprepared  for  the  summons.  But  he  came  to  plant 
for  them  the  tree  of  life,  and  to  give  them  access  to  its  heal- 
ing fruits.  And  as  he  allowed  nothing  to  divert  his  own 
attention  from  the  accomplishment  of  this  object,  he  guard- 
ed against  every  thing  likely  to  beguile  them  from  seeking 
the  benefit  resulting  from  it.  He  disdained  not  the  repeti- 
tion of  old  and  familiar  truths,  provided  his  introduction  of 
them  would  subserve  his  grand  design  :  for  though  he  pro- 
posed to  erect  a  second  temple  of  truth,  the  glory  of  which 
should  eclipse  the  splendor  of  the  first,  he  deigned  to  ap- 
propriate whatever  of  the  ancient  materials  remained 
available.  Truths,  which  the  lapse  of  time  had  seen  dis- 
placed and  disconnected  from  their  true  position,  as  stars 
are  said  to  have  wandered  from  their  primal  signs,  he  re- 
called and  established  anew;  and  principles,  which  had 
faded,  disappeared,  and  been  lost,  as  stars  are  said  to  have 
become  extinct,  he  re-kindled  and  re-sphered,  and  com- 
manded them  to  stand  fast  forever.  Such3  for  instance,  was 


90  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

the  golden  law  of  wedded  love;  which  though  coeval  with 
paradise,  and  the  crown  of  its  joys;  had  beep  partially  re- 
mitted by  divine  sufferance,  and  reduced  to  a  name  by  hu- 
man depravity,  but  which  he  restored  and  republished  as 
of  divine  and  indissoluble  obligation. 

The  power  of  recasting  important  truths  from  their  old 
and  worn-out  forms,  and  of  giving  them  to  the  world  again 
with  all  their  original  freshness  and  force,  is  the  peculiar 
prerogative  of  genius ;  but  though  our  Lord  must  be  sup- 
posed to  have  possessed  this  power  in  perfection,  he  did  not 
exercise  it  for  its  own  sake.  An  acquaintance  with  the 
origin  of  some  of  his  parables,  his  prayers,  and  many  of 
his  most  familiar  sayings,  will  show  that  he  often  conde* 
scended  to  udopt  the  beauties  of  the  Talmud,  which  were 
then  *  floating  on  the  lips  of  the  wise,'  as  well  as  the  pop- 
ular proverbs  of  the  day,  and  to  insert  them  into  his  own 
instructions.  But  this  by  no  means  impairs  his  claim  to 
originality  of  the  loftiest  kind.  Intellect  of  the  highest 
earthly  order,  though  aware  that  its  claims  to  renown  de- 
pended chiefly  on  the  exercise  of  its  own  creative  powers, 
has  not  feared  the  forfeiture  of  those  claims  for  borrowing 
the  productions  of  inferior  minds :  it  was  conscious  of  a 
power  of  falling  back,  at  pleasure,  on  its  own  resources, 
and  of  being  ably  sustained.  Then  how  much  more  might 
he  do  the  same  ;  He,  to  whom  all  human  thought  is  but 
one  idea :  and  that  only  a  fractional  part  of  the  infinite 
whole  which  his  mind  comprehends.  He,  who  in  his 
pre-existent  state,  had  not  refused  to  predicate  of  his  divine 
nature  the  parts  and  passions  of  poor  humanity,  though  at 
the  hazard  of  materializing  his  pure  spirituality  in  the 
crude  conceptions  of  human  ignorance :  He,  who  had  pro- 
ceeded even  to  assume  that  humanity,  the  mere  figurative 
assumption  of  which  was  an  infinite  condescension,  might 
surely  be  spared  the  necessity  of  a  defence,  for  the  occa- 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  9f 

sional  appropriation  of  human  thoughts.  If  his  assump- 
tion of  our  nature  was  an  infinite  stoop  of  grace  demand- 
ing our  adoration,  his  adoption  of  any  of  our  thoughts 
(though  not  to  be  named  as  a  comparison)  was  only  and  ad- 
junct and  continuation  of  that  grace. 

Besides,  this  probably  is  only  to  be  regarded  as  one  of 
the  numerous  methods  by  which  he  was  constantly  aiming 
to  lessen  the  impression  which  must  have  frequently  re- 
turned on  his  hearers — as  far  as  that  impression  was  like- 
ly to  interfere  with  his  usefulness — of  his  mysterious  and 
incomprehensible  character.  He  knew  with  a  perfection 
of  knowledge,  that  as  the  great  and  beneficent  operations 
of  nature  are  produced,  not  by  abrupt  and  extraordinary 
interpositions,  but  by  the  calm  and  regular  movements  of 
its  appointed  laws  ;  so,  ordinarily,  a  method  of  instruction 
which  violates  the  sanctuary  of  our  settled  associations, 
though  it  may  startle,  and  astonish,  and  even  fill  with  won- 
der for  the  moment,  is  far  from  friendly  to  the  lasting  con- 
viction and  future  improvement  of  the  mind ;  and,  there- 
fore, he  disturbed  their  accustomed  trains  of  thought  as- 

O 

little  as  was  consistent  with  the  introduction  of  a  renovat- 
ing power,  a  new  and  transforming  economy  of  truth.  He 
sought  access  to  their  minds,  by  the  beaten  pathway  of 
their  most  familiar  associations ;  he  insinuated  and  inter- 
twined his  divine  instruction  with  the  net-work  of  their 
most  hallowed  recollections  and  sympathies;  thus  provid- 
ing for  it  the  easiest  mode  of  admission  into  their  hearts, 
and  making  them  feel  that  his  identification  with  their  na- 
ture and  interest  was  complete.  But,  at  the  same  time, 
whatever  of  their  most  popular  and  admired  lore  he  con- 
descended to  employ,  he  gave  them  an  opportunity  of  mark- 
ing his  superiority  to  the  most  approved  and  honored  of 
their  rabbinical  teachers;  for,  however  great  its  original 
excellencies  might  have  been  considered,  it  came  from  his 


92  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

hands  beautified  with  a  simplicity,  dignified  with  a  power, 
and  invested  with  attractions,  unknown  to  it  before. 

In  order  that  he  might  obtain  admission  through  the 
common  avenue  of  our  sympathies,  and  build  himself  a 
home  in  our  hearts,  he  drew  his  images  arid  illustrations 
from  the  great  treasury  of  our  household  affections,  and 
from  the  most  familiar  features  of  nature.  But  the  lily  of 
the  field,  as  plucked  by  his  hand,  has  the  freshness  of  the 
morning,  and  the  dew  upon  it ;  and  the  homeliest  fact,  as 
unfolded  by  him,  is  found  to  contain  the  most  treasured 
truths.  Thus,  by  deriving  his  illustrations  from  humble 
sources,  he  not  only  avoided  taking  our  feelings  by  surprise, 
he  showed  us  how  all  unperverted  knowledge  tends  to- 
wards heaven  by  a  law,  and  how  all  unsophisticated  nature, 
rightly  construed,  is  only  an  expanded  page  of  holy  writ ; 
how  every  part  of  Eden  and  of  earth  must  have  teemed, 
and  been  vocal,  with  wisdom  to  the  attentive  ear  of  unfallen 
man  ;  and  how  to  the  mind  which  mirrors  and  reflects  the 
lines  and  aspects  of  nature,  truth  may  still  be  said  to  spring 
out  of  the  earth. 

But  though  we  could  not  have  passed  entirely  unnoticed 
the  circumstantial  originality  of  the  Saviour's  teaching,  it  is 
time  to  show  that  his  claim  to  this  quality  arises  from  mer- 
its peculiarly  his  own  ;  from  additional  revelations,  and 
momentous  disclosures  of  divine  truth.  Had  he  only 
commented  on  the  volume  of  nature,  had  he  even  read 
from  the  book  of  the  universe  the  names  and  titles  of  its 
author,  our  advantage  comparatively  would  have  been 
small  indeed.  That  volume  was  originally  meant  only  for 
the  eye  of  sinless  humanity.  It  uttered  no  prediction, 
awoke  no  presentiment  of  the  fall ;  in  no  part  of  its  hal- 
lowed contents  could  a  line  be  found  foretokening  woe. 
The  morning  of  the  day  of  transgression  dawned  on  the 
world,  unconscious  of  the  impending  change.  The  sun 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  93 

poured  forth  as  fall  a  flood  of  living  light:  the  air  was  as 
rich  in  fragrance  and  song ;  earth  and  heaven  appeared  to 
live  in  each  others  smiles  ;  nature  lay  open  at  as  fair  and 
bright  a  page,  as  at  the  moment  when  God  complacently 
pronounced  it  to  be  very  good.  The  tremendous  catastrophe 
of  that  day  took  it  by  surprise.  So  far  from  furnishing  man 
with  resources  for  the  event,  it  was  itself  involved  in  the 
calamity  ;  it  was  '  cursed  for  his  sake.'  So  far  from  being 
able  to  utter  a  consolatory  truth  in  human  ears,  it  required 
itself  to  be  solaced  and  sustained,  for  it  lay  prostrate  and 
panting  under  its  Maker's  frown.  Wounded  by  the  stroke, 
and  cumbered  with  the  weight  of  sin,  it  sent  forth  a  cry, 
in  which  all  its  natural  harmonies  were  drowned  ;  aery 
of  helplessness  and  of  suffering,  which  has  never  from 
that  moment  ceased,  but  which  has  gone  on  from  age  to 
age,  waxing  louder  and  louder,  till  the  whole  creation  has 
become  vocal  with  woe,  l  and  groaneth  and  travaileth  in 
pain  together  until  now,'  laboring  in  its  pangs  and  strug- 
gling to  be  free. 

So  far  from  showing  commiseration,  and  whispering 
hope,  there  is  a  sense  in  which  all  nature  stands  ready  to 
avenge  the  quarrel  of  God  with  man.  Take  as  examples, 
the  histories  of  Pharaoh  and  Herod.  When  the  former 
refused  to  obey  the  mandates  of  heaven,  all  nature  express- 
ed its  sympathy  with  its  injured  Maker ;  armed  in  his  be- 
half, and  put  itself  in  motion  to  avenge  the  insult.  The 
latter  affecting  to  be  thought  a  god,  forthwith  an  angel,  jeal- 
ous of  Jehovah's  honor,  descends  and  smites  him  :  and,  at 
the  same  moment,  the  meanest  insects  begin  to  devour  him: 
the  highest  order  of  created  intelligence,  and  the  lowest 
form  of  animal  existence,  the  two  extremes  in  the  scale  of 
creation,  unite  to  prostrate  and  punish  his  impiety.  It  will 
be  found,  in  the  history  of  the  divine  justice,  that  every 
element  of  nature  has  taken  its  turn,  as  a  minister  of  wrath, 


94  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

to  assert  the  quarrel  of  God  with  rebellious  man.  And, 
be  it  remembered,  that  one  of  these  elements  is  held  in  re- 
serve for  the  destruction  of  the  world ;  he  has  only  to 
speak,  and  it  will  wrap  the  globe  in  living  flames.  Mean- 
while he  may  be  said  to  have  laid  all  nature  under  a  solemn 
interdict,  not  to  minister  to  our  most  pressing  wants  ;  he 
has  laid  it  under  an  eternal  ban.  Let  there  be  no  peace 
to  the  wicked,  saith  my  God  ;  let  everything  be  at  war  with 
him.  If  he  will  be  the  enemy  of  God,  let  him  live  and 
die  amidst  a  universe  of  frowns;  let  every  thing  in  heaven, 
earth,  and  hell,  be  armed,  and  ready  to  assail  him:  let 
there  be  no  peace  to  the  wicked;  and  universal  nature 
responds,  there  shall  be  none;  and  the  universal  experience 
of  sinners,  as  it  sends  up  its  reply  from  the  bottomless  pit 
declares  in  accents  of  terrible  despair,  there  is  none.  Could 
the  sinner  but  open  his  eyes  to  the  dreadful  reality  of  his 
condition,  were  he  endowed  with  the  power  of  vision  like 
the  servant  of  the  prophet,  he  would  find  himself  surround- 
ed, not  indeed  with  horses  and  chariots  of  fire  to  guard 
him,  but  with  terrible  forms  of  anger  and  destruction,  wait- 
ing to  dart  on  him, and  make  him  their  prey.  He  would 
find  himself  standing  in  the  great  theatre  of  the  universe, 
with  every  eye  that  it  contains  fixed  and  frowning  upon 
him ;  with  every  weapon  in  the  infinite  armory  of  God, 
ready,  and  levelled  against  him.  And  the  hour  arrives 
when  he  finds  that  sin  has  arrayed  against  him,  not  only  all 
the  universe  without,  but  all  the  powers  and  passions  with- 
in him  ;  that  it  has  armed  him  against  himself;  that  it  has 
given  a  sting  to  every  thought,  and  turned  his  conscience 
into  a  worm  that  diethnot,  and  his  depraved  and  ungovern- 
ed  passions  into  fires  never  to  be  quenched. 

O  how  unparalleled  the 'infatuation  of  the  man  who  pre- 
tends, that  from  the  doubtful  and  scattered  intimations  of 
nature,  he  can  collect  the  materials  of  a  sufficient  creed ; 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  95 

when  at  the  same  time  they  are  so  obviously  intermixed 
with  the  fragments  of  a  violated  law.  Nature  indeed,  is 
still  an  oracle  on  one  point ;  and  when  consulted  on  that 
point,  which  relates  to  the  great  remedy  for  sin,  her  spon- 
taneous response  is,  it  is  not  in  me  ;  it  is  not  until  man  has 
examined  her  by  torture,  that  he  extorts  some  doubtful  re- 
ply, which — his  vanity  being  made  the  interpreter — is 
found  to  coincide  with  his  wishes,  and  to  flatter  his  pride. 
On  the  fact  of  the  divine  existence,  indeed,  the  protestations 
of  nature  are  positive,  loud  and  unceasing:  this  is  a  truth 
of  which  she  is  never  making  less  than  solemn  affirmation 
and  oath,  with  all  her  myriad  voices;  the  unintermitting 
reponse  of  the  living  creatures  heard  by  John,  is  only 
the  echo  of  her  voice  in  the  sanctuary  above,  proclaiming 
to  the  universe  his  eternal  power  and  Godhead.  But,  how- 
ever able  and  ready  to  enlighten  the  inquiring  mind  on 
the  fact  of  his  existence,  she  could  do  nothing  to  disssipate 
the  clouds  of  doubt  and  gloom  which  had  gathered  and 
settled  into  thick  darkness  round  about  his  throne  :  on  the 
anxious  subject  of  his  character,  and  his  possible  conduct 
towards  the.  guilty,  she  has  received  no  instructions  and  is 
silent.  By  the  introduction  of  sin,  our  condition  has  be- 
come preternatural,  and  the  wisdom  that  prescribes  for  us, 
therefore,  must  be  supernatural,  or  it  will  prove  a  physi- 
cian of  no  value. 

I.  Jesus  Christ,  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father,  cameto 
be  the  light  of  the  world :  and  one  of  the  topics  on  which 
he  most  delighted  to  expatiate  and  dwell,  was  the  paternal 
character  and  universal  benevolence  of  God.  This,  in  the 
form  in  which  it  came  from  his  hands,  was  an  original  sub- 
ject, a  new  gift  to  the  world. 

Hear  his  own  emphatic  representations  ;  '  O  righteous 
Father,  the  world  hath  not  known  thee.J  '  No  man  know- 


96  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

eth  the  Father  save  the  Son,  and  he  to  whomsoever  the 
Son  will  reveal  him.'  *  I  have  manifested  thy  name  unto 
the  men  whom  thou  gavest  me  out  of  the  world.'  Such 
are  the  unequivocal  terms  in  which  he  declares,  that,  at 
the  time  he  spoke,  the  world  was  destitute  of  the  knowl- 
edge of  God;  that  this  inestimable  knowledge  was  his 
own  peculiar  gift,  the  chief  treasure  which  he  had  brought 
into  the  world  ;  that  the  impartation  of  it  was  in  his  high 
prerogative  alone  ;  and  that  in  the  sovereign  exercise  of 
that  prerogative,  he  had  given  it  to  his  disciples,  by  them  to 
be  communicated  to  the  world  at  large. 

Nor  does  this  statement  require  any  qualification,  from  the 
fact  that  God  had  before  spoken  to  man,  'at  sundry  times, 
and  in  divers  manners.'  Without  any  unjust  depreciation 
of  the  Jewish  institute,  it  may  be  boldly  affirmed,  that  it 
gave  but  a  faint  and  partial  representation  of  the  divine 
character.  What  must  have  been  the  views  of  God  enter- 
tained by  Solomon,  who,  though  he  had  been  employed  to 
build  the  temple  of  Jehovah,  could  forsake  that  very  tem- 
ple for  an  idol's  grove  1  What  must  have  been  the  god  of 
the  prophet  Jonah,  when  he  attempted  to  flee  fcom  his  pre- 
sence, and  pettishly  charged  him  with  fickleness  of  purpose 
for  not  involving  Nineveh  in  destruction  ?  It  is  indeed,  im- 
possible to  state  the  precise  amount  of  the  knowledge  of 
God  which  is  essential  to  salvation  ;  but  there  is  reason  to 
conclude  that,  considering  the  peculiar  advantages  of  the 
Mosaic  economy,  that  knowledge  was  generally  at  its  min- 
imum in  Judea.  It  is  more  than  probable,  that  when  those 
prophetic  intimations  were  first  uttered,  which  contain 
most  hope  for  man,  and  which  we  are  accustomed  to  admire 
as  splendid  anticipations  of  the  gospel,  and  worthy  the  me- 
ridian of  the  Christian  church,  they  were  either  dismissed 
by  their  hearers  as  unintelligible,  or  understood  with  so 
great  a  reserve  in  favor  of  Judea,  as  virtually  to  annul  the 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  97 

prophesy.  Besides,  between  such  enlarged  representa- 
tions, and  the  restrictive  spirit  of  their  economy,  a  conflict 
must  necessarily  have  ensued,  which  could  not  fail  to  end 
in  favor  of  the  latter.  And,  when  in  addition  to  this,  it  is 
remembered, — that  the  whole  of  their  law  had  become  rab- 
binized  and  overlaid  \vith  traditions ;  that  notwithstanding 
their  sacrificial  types,  the  doctrine  of  pardon  procured  by  a 
vicarious  expiation,  was  'to  the  Jews  a  stumbling  block ;' 
that  all  that  was  supernatural  in  their  temple  worship 
had  been  long  since  recalled  to  heaven,  and  all  that  was 
spiritual  suffered  to  depart;  that  any  of  their  moral  duties 
were  compounded  for  a  pecuniary  consideration;  that  the 
only  heaven  they  knew,  was  suspended,  in  their  imagina- 
tion, over  the  land  of  Judea ;  and  that  they  were  actually 
jealous  of  the  Divine  Being,  lest  he  should  take  within 
the  pale  of  salvation,  any  part  of  the  gentile  world, — it 
will  be  admitted  that,  of  such  a  people,  it  would  be  difficult 
to  under-rate  their  acquaintance  with  the  divine  character. 
As  to  the  state  of  the  heathen  world,  it  is  only  necessary 
to  quote  the  declaration  of  the  apostle — that  it  knew  not 
God.  In  Greece,  where  the  dialectic  philosophy  saw  its 
proudest  days  ;  at  Athens,  where  it  was  enthroned,  its  last 
effort  was  to  rear  an  altar  to  the  unknown  God.  At  Rome, 
the  asylum  of  deposed  and  fugitive  gods,  the  pantheon  of 
the  world,  the  genius  of  Cicero,  though  it  towered  above 
his  age,  could  add  nothing  to  the  religious  knowledge  of 
that  age ;  could  only  speak  vaguely  of  a  numen  aliquod 
yrcEstantissima  mentis.  From  the  moment  that  philoso- 
phy touched  its  meridian  in  the  hands  of  Socrates,  Plato, 
and  Aristotle,  it  began  to  decline.  Reason,  as  if  blinded 
by  excess  of  light,  submitted  to  be  led  by  any  who  assum- 
ed the  office  of  a  guide:  revenged  herself  for  the  prodi- 
gious effort  to  which  she  had  been  tasked,  by  abandoning 
herself  to  the  sorcery  of  the  senses.  Truth  was  pronounc- 
6 


98  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

ed  unattainable ;  virtue  impracticable ;  the  temples  of  reli- 
gion were  ceded  to  vice,  who  found  herself  consecrated 
and  enshrined  in  their  inmost  recesses  ;  while  the  phantom 
of  happiness,  (for  the  reality  had  departed  with  its  sister 
fugitives,  virtue,  and  truth,)  was  chased  under  a  thousand 
forms  and  names ;  till  the  world,  having  applied  its  fever- 
ed lips  to  the  poisoned  chalice  of  Epicurus,  concluded,  in 
their  intoxication,  that  they  had  found  it  in  the  sensual 
form  of  unbridled  pleasure. 

By  one  class,  the  idea  of  a  Deity  was  discarded  as  a 
baseless  figment  of  the  fancy  ;  by  another,  he  was  multi- 
plied into  '  lords  many,  and  gods  many,'  the  patrons  of  as 
many  vices  ;  and  by  a  third,  his  throne  was  removed  to  a 
distance,  which  relieved  the  world  of  his  presence,  and 
eased  him  of  the  cares  of  active  government.  This  was 
unquestionably  the  creed  of  the  majority  ;  for  it  had  this 
irresistible  recommendation,  that,  by  admitting  his  exist- 
ence, it  preserved  the  mask  of  religion,  while,  by  transfer- 
ring his  seat  to  some  unknown  region  in  the  outskirts  of 
the  creation,  it  saved  them  the  practical  inconvenience  of 
regarding  his  character  or  consulting  his  will.  They 
persuaded  themselves,  not  only  that  his  habitation  was  so 
immeasurably  remote,  but  also  that  his  dignity  and  felicity 
were  so  essentially  dependant  on  undisturbed  repose,  that 
the  character  and  condition  of  human  beings  never  shared 
for  a  moment  his  divine  regards.  This  was  courteously 
deposing,  and  complimentally  dismissing  the  god  of  their 
creed  beyond  the  circle  of  their  society.  This  was  '  athe- 
ism with  a  god.'  This  was  attaining  the  completion  of 
their  misery  and  guilt.  For,  by  this  virtual  annihilation 
of  the  Divine  Being,  they  destroyed  every  adequate  re- 
straint on  vice,  every  encouragement  to  virtue,  and  every 
ground  of  substantial  consolation  to  distress.  The  vicious 
might  sin  on,  without  dreading  his  frown ;  the  virtuous 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  99 

might  sacrifice  life  itself  in  the  pursuit  of  improvement, 
without  hoping  to  obtain  his  smile  ;  and  had  all  the  suffer- 
ers which  the  world  contained  sent  up  one  united  groan, 
one  concentrated  cry  for  relief,  they  would  only  have  been 
giving  their  breath  to  the  winds.  They  had  reduced 
themselves  to  the  blank  and  cheerless  state  of  being  £  with- 
out hope  and  without  God  in  the  world.5 

II.  How  different  the  view  of  his  character  and  con- 
duct, presented  to  us  by  the  hand  of  Christ!  Drawing- 
aside  the  veil  which  concealed  his  glory  from  our  eyes, 
it  shows  him  in  his  high  and  holy  place,  not  in  a  state  of 
silence  and  solitude,  but  surrounded  by  ten  thousand  times 
ten  thousand,  and  thousands  of  thousands  of  holy,  happy 
beings,  and  every  one  of  them  waiting  to  do  his  bidding: 
not  in  a  state  of  inactivity  and  moral  indifference,  but  in 
active  communication  with  every  part  of  his  vast  domin- 
ions, through  a  numberless  variety  of  channels ;  not  in  a 
state  of  apathy,  regardless  of  the  world,  and  all  its  multi- 
plied concerns,  but  as  actually  stooping  from  his  throne 
and  bending  towards  it,  listening  to  every  sound  it  utters, 
observing  the  movement  of  every  being  it  contains,  and 
approving  or  condemning  every  action  it  exhibits  ;  it  even 
shows  him  to  us  in  the  astonishing  act  of  raising  up  the 
fallen  and  prostrate  children  of  earth,  and  putting  them  in 
the  way  of  reaching  his  own  abode. 

To  exalt  our  conceptions  of  the  greatness  of  the  Deity, 
our  Divine  Instructor  describes  him  as  reigning  sole  over 
all  the  universe  of  matter  and  mind  ;  asserts  the  pure  spir- 
ituality of  his  nature,  which  no  material  images  can  rep- 
resent ;  ascribes  to  him  a  power,  to  which  easy  and  diffi- 
cult are  terms  alike  unknown,  for  to  him  all  things  are 
possible  ;  and,  raising  him  to  an  infinite  height  above  the 
loftiest  created  intelligence,  declares  that  he  stands  alone 


THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

in  absolute,  unapproachable  perfection.  To  enlarge  our^ 
views  of  his  condescension  and  benevolence,  he  assembles 
the  universal  family  of  man,  'the  just  and  the  unjust,'  and 
takes  from  each  of  the  uncounted  multitude  a  distinct  at- 
testation of  the  divine  goodness  to  himself  in  particular. 
fie  leads  them  abroad  into  the  open  fields  of  nature,  and 
lo,  on  touching  their  eyes,  he  surprises  them  with  the  sight 
of  the  hand  which  upholds  the  world,  employed  in  paint- 
ing the  lily  of  the  field,  feeding  the  fowls  of  the  air,  and 
adjusting  and  succoring  the  descent  of  the  falling  sparrow. 
He  appeals  to  every  drop  of  rain,  and  to  every  ray  of 
light  shed  on  an  unthankful  world  ;  and  they  confirm  his 
testimony  to  the  supreme  goodness. 

But  he  informs  his  disciples  that  the  amount  of  divine 
attention  bestowed  on  any  given  object,  is  proportioned  to 
the  rank  which  that  object  occupies  in  the  scale  of  creation. 
If  the  grass  of  the  field,  then,  share  so  rriuch  of  the  divine 
attention,  can  we  form  exaggerated  ideas  of  the  regard 
which  he  bestows  on  man?  Having  thus  prepared  his 
disciples  to  see  greater  things  than  these,  he  conducts  them 
into  a  higher  department  of  truth.  He  lays  open  to  their 
inspection  the  volume  of  providence,  and  turning  to  the 
name  of  each  one  in  succession,  shows  him  that  in  that 
volume  each  has  a  page ;  that  he  has  never  been  absent 
from  the  mind  of  God;  that  the  page  assigned  to  him 
contains  every  particular  of  his  history,  even  to  the  num- 
bered hairs  of  his  head. 

III.  From  this  department  of  truth  he  leads  us  into  a 
higher  region  still ;  for,  having  elated  our  hopes  by  the 
minuteness  of  the  divine  attention  to  our  temporal  condi- 
tion, he  has  prepared  us  to  look  for  a  far  more  astonishing 
display  of  divine  munificence  towards  us,  as  .his  spiritual 
offspring.  Having  already  shown  us  the  liberality  of  his 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  101 

hand,  he  encourages  us  to  approach  and  take  a  nearer 
view  of  his  character,  to  look  into  his  heart.  We  begin 
to  enter  into  the  spirit  of  the  exercise,  to  feel  our  hope 
taking  confidence,  and  our  anticipations  growing  san- 
guine ;  we  become  conscious  that  we  must  give  scope  and 
wing  to  our  expectation,  and  urge  it  to  its  utmost  flight,  to 
do  any  thing  like  justice  to  the  occasion.  But  who  shall 
anticipate  the  gifts  of  infinite  love  ? 

1  God  so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten 
Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not  perish, 
but  have  everlasting  life.'  Though  sin  had  for  ages  dis- 
turbed the  equable  flow  of  the  divine  benevolence  to  man, 
that  benevolence  had  never,  for  a  moment,  ceased  to  accu- 
mulate, or  lost  its  earthward  direction.  Through  every 
hour,  of  every  age,  it  had  continued  to  increase  ;  and  was 
only  restrained  till  a  suitable  channel  was  ready,  and  the 
world  prepared  to  receive  it.  And  now,  when  the  fulness 
of  time  was  come,  the  windows  of  heaven,  the  heart  of 
Deity  itself,  was  opened,  and  poured  forth  on  the  world  a 
healing  flood  of  heavenly  grace.  Herein  is  love!  We 
will  not  presume  to  question  whether  a  gift  of  inferior 
value  would  have  been  adequate  to  relieve  the  world  or 
not:  but  God  so  loved  us  that  he  could  not  have  realized 
his  vast  propensions  of  grace  by  giving  us  less ;  he  so 
loved  us,  that  he  would  not  suffer  it  to  remain  possible  to 
be  said  that  he  could  love  us  more  ;  he  knew  that  a  donation 
of  calculable  value  would  only  call  forth  an  odious  spirit 
of  fierce  and  jealous  monopoly,  but  he  so  loved  us,  that  he 
resolved  on  a  gift,  defying  all  computation,  and  the  very 
mention  of  which  should  surcharge  our  minds  with  great- 
ness, give  us  an  idea  of  infinity,  and  impregnate  our  seii- 
ishness  with  a  transforming  sentiment  of  generous  and 
diffusive  benevolence  ;  he  so  loved  us,  that  he  would  leave 
nothing  for  the  most  apprehensive  guilt  to  fear,  nor  thu 


1U2  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

most  capacious  wishes  to  desire;  he  laid  claim  to  the 
whole  of  our  affections,  by  pouring  out  the  whole  treasury 
of  heaven,  by  giving  ns  his  all  at  once.  Herein  is  love  ! 

1  God  sent  not  his  Son  into  the  world  to  condemn  the 
world,  but  that  the  world  through  him  might  be  saved.' 
In  order  to  enhance  our  views  of  the  divine  compassion, 
the  Saviour,  in  this  language,  reminds  us  of  the  terrible  al- 
ternative which  outraged  Omnipotence  might  have  adopted. 
He  carries  back  our  thoughts  to  the  time  when  God,  after 
looking  with  centuries  of  patience  and  foibearance  on  the 
unparalleled  spectacle  of  his  holy  law  prostrate,  and 
broken,  and  trampled  under  foot  by  a  confederated  race  of 
rebellious  creatures,  came  forth  out  of  his  place,  and  pun- 
ished the  inhabitants  of  the  earth  for  their  iniquity;  swept 
them  away  with  a  flood  as  with  a  besom  of  destruction. 
But  man,  insensible  to  the  lessons  of  chastisement,  was  no 
sooner  permitted  to  re-people  the  earth,  than  he  resumed 
his  weapons,  renewed  his  hostility  to  heaven  under  cir- 
cumstances of  aggravation  unknown  before,  and  transmit- 
ed  to  his  posterity,  as  if  it  had  been  a  sacred  obligation,  the 
art  and  spirit  of  the  unnatural  war.  So  deep  had  this  in- 
fernal enmity  to  God  struck  its  roots  in  the  human  heart, 
and  so  wide  were  its  ramifications  throughout  the  entire 
mass  of  humanity,  that  even  a  solitary  indication  of  re- 
turning friendship  towards  him  was  denounced  as  treach- 
ery to  a  common  cause  ;  the  first  relaxation  of  this  impious 
strife,  the  first  relenting  sigh,  was  instantly  detected  by  a 
wakeful  impiety,  quickened  by  hatred  to  an  instinctive 
vigilance ;  and  was  summarily  dealt  with  as  an  enemy  in 
the  camp.  Man  had  naturalized  the  principle  of  sin  ;  had 
consecrated  vice  in  all  its  forms;  had  opened  to  it  all  the 
recesses  of  his  nature  ;  cherished  and  established  its  do- 
minion by  every  species  of  submission  and  indulgence: 
and  boasted  of  his  new  allegiance  in  the  face  of  heaven. 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  103 

The  only  law  which  kept  mankind  united,  the  only  sym- 
pathy which  held  the  unnumbered  parts  and  interests  of 
the  world  in  affinity,  seemed  to  be  an  all-pervading  princi- 
ple of  aversion  to  God  ;  and  this  was  sufficient  to  bind 
them  fast  for  ages,  in  one  great  and  unbroken  work  of 
prodigious  guilt.  The  destruction  of  the  world,  therefore, 
so  far  from  being  an  infraction  of  justice,  was  only  what 
justice  required;  would  only  have  been  the  natural  course 
of  things,  flowing  in  the  unobstructed  order  of  cause  and 
effect.  A  crisis  had  arrived  in  the  government  of  God 
on  earth,  in  which  something  great  and  decisive  must  be 
done ;  prolong  the  delay — and  the  character  of  God  will 
be  compromised  and  gone ;  the  voices  of  the  souls  be- 
neath the  altar  were  wearied  with  crying  for  retribution  ; 
the  armory  of  heaven  was  open  ;  all  its  hosts  and  equip- 
ments ready  ;  justice  had  only  to  speak  the  word,  and,  in 
a  moment's  flight,  the  panic  earth  would  have  beheld  its 
firmament  filled  with  the  careering  fires  and  terrific  forms 
of  descending  wrath.  The  Son  of  God  had  only  to  pour 
out  the  vial  of  incensed  wrath,  and  there  had  been  voices, 
and  thunderings,  and  lightnings,  and  earthquakes,  and 
universal  desolation  ;  and  all  the  holy  intelligences,  as 
they  stood  afar  off,  on  the  sea  of  glass,  beholding  the  tre- 
mendous catastrophe,  would  have  said,  '  Thou  art  right- 
eous, O  Lord,  because  thou  hast  judged  thus.' 

But  at  that  crisis  of  the  world,  when  every  movement 
in  the  government  of  God  was  to  be  watched  with  breath- 
less apprehension,  when,  bad  justice  made  the  slightest 
move,  every  thing  that  had  feeling  would  have  veiled  its 
eyes  in  fear,  then  mercy  prevailed  to  unfold  the  scheme  of 
love,  and  it  became  the  office  of  justice  to  wonder  and  at- 
tend ;  then,  when  God  might  have  sent  his  Son  to  condemn 
the  world,  he  was  sent — amazing  grace! — to  save  it. 
Herein  is  love  !  The  apostles  never  touched  it,  but  they 


104  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

instantly  kindled  at  the  inspiration  of  the  theme.  Con- 
scious that  their  language  fell  far  below  their  conceptions, 
and  their  conception  below  their  subject,  they  could  only 
exclaim,  in  the  impotence  of  overwhelming  admiration, 
Herein  is  love  !  The  universe  is  crowded  with  proofs  of 
his  benevolence,  but  here  is  a  proof  which  outweighs 
them  all !  How  much  he  loved  us  we  can  never  compute; 
we  have  no  line  with  which  to  fathom,  no  standard  with 
which  to  compare  it ;  but  he  so  loved  us  that  he  gave  his 
only  begotten  Son,  that  through  him  he  might  confer  on 
us  eternal  life. 

IV.  But,  in  order  to  raise  our  estimate  of  the  divine 
benevolence,  the  Saviour  not  only  announces  that  he  brings 
from  heaven  the  infinite  donation  of  eternal  life  j  he  points 
our  attention  to  the  means  of  mercy.  '  For  as  Moses  lifted 
up  the  serpent  in  the  wilderness,  so  must  the  Son  of  man 
be  lifted  up.'  Everlasting  life  is  a  gift  so  ineffably  great, 
an  alternative  so  vast  for  creatures  who  had  reached,  who 
were  crossing  the  confines  of  endless  death,  that  had  it 
cost  the  Almighty  but  a  mere  volition,  had  it  been  the  re- 
sult of  a  fiat  as  easy  and  unexpensive  as  that  which  gave 
birth  to  light,  it  would  still  have  rendered  his  grace  the 
theme  and  wonder  of  the  universe.  But,  however  sponta- 
neous the  love  which  projected  the  plan  of  mercy,  the  exe- 
cution of  that  plan  asks  for  more  than  the  simple  volitions 
which  created  the  world,  or  the  unconstrained  and  tran- 
quil circulation  of  the  power  which  sustains  it.  The  Son 
of  man  must  be  lifted  up.  He  must  yield  to  conditions  of 
which  an  infinite  nature  alone  is  capable ;  and  in  yielding 
to  which,  all  that  infinite  capability  will  be  in  stress.  At 
the  time  he  spoke,  he  had  already  made  an  infinite  stoop, 
in  consenting  to  an  actual  junction  with  the  nature  that 
had  sinned,  and  on  which  sin  was  to  be  punished.  But 
this  was  only  the  prologue  of  the  act  of  mercy.  He  had 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  105- 

joined  the  offending  nature  to  his  own,  for  the  distinct  and 
deliberate  object  of  pouring  out  the  blood  whicfe  flowed 
through  its  veins,  and  of  making  its  soul  an  offering  for 
sin.  His  whole  life  was  only  a  preface  to  his  death.  Hav- 
ing taken  a  survey  of  all  that  would  be  required  from  the 
surety  of  sinners  ;  having  cast  up  and  pondered  the  mighty 
sum  of  guilt  to  be  cancelled ;  and  measured  with  his  eye 
the  thunder-stores  of  wrath  which  must  be  exhausted ;  and 
fathomed  the  pit  which  to  them  was  bottomless ;  he  press- 
ed the  entire  responsibility  to  his  heart,  and  addressed  him- 
self to  the  task.  Our  nature,  to  him,  was  a  robe  of  suffer- 
ing, assumed  expressly,  that  when  the  crisis  of  our  re- 
demption came,  justice  might  find  him  sacrificially  attired 
and  prepared  for  the  altar,  a  substance  which  her  sword 
could  smite,  a  victim  which  could  agonize  and  die.  And, 
if  the  human  soul  admits  of  an  indefinite  enlargement,  in 
its  capacity  of  pleasure  and  pain  ;  if  the  admission  of  the 
purified  spirit  to  the  uncreated  splendor  above,  augments 
that  capacity  to  such  a  degree,  that  almost  an  infinitude  of 
emotion  can  be  compressed  into  the  space  of  a  moment ; 
what  must  have  been  the  measureless  capability  of  the 
human  soul  which  he  took  into  so  perfect  a  union  with  his 
divinity,  that  the  two  natures  composed  only  one  person ; 
what  must  have  been  the  acquired  intensity  of  its  antipa- 
thy to  sin,  and  what  the  consequent  intensity  of  his  exceed- 
ing sorrow,  when,  being  in  an  agony,  he  had,  in  a  sense,  to 
absorb  the  infinite  mass  of  human  guilt,  and  to  exhaust,  in 
one  short  moment,  the  mighty  cup  of  omnipotent  wrath ! 

For  the  key  to  all  this  mystery  of  compassion,  the  Sav- 
iour himself  refers  us  to  the  love  of  God.  While  we  are 
standing  before  his  cross,  and  musing  on  that  amazing  ex- 
pedient of  mercy,  the  holy  Sufferer  himself  raises  his  eyes 
to  heaven  for  its  origin,  and  looks  at  the  heart  of  God. 
He  impresses  on  us  the  sublime  fact,  that  the  father  loves, 


106  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

us,  not  in  consequence  of  the  great  propitiation,  but  that  he 
provided  the  propitiation  because  he  loved  us  ;  because  he 
was  bent  on  obtaining  a  medium  through  which  he  could 
pour  out  the  ocean-fulness  of  his  love  upon  us. 

Of  all  the  remarkable  declarations  of  Christ,  when  the 
love  of  God  was  his  theme,  one  of  the  most  striking,  per- 
haps, and  one  which  seems  to  place  us  in  an  unusually  fa- 
vorable position  for  looking  at  the  divine  benevolence,  is 
the  memorable  sentence,  '  Therefore  doth  my  Father  love 
me,  because  I  lay  down  my  life,  that  I  might  take  it  again 

because  I  lay  down  my  life  for  the  sheep; '  in 

other  words,  *  My  Father  loves  you  with  a  love  so  un- 
bounded, that  he  even  loves  me  the  more  for  dying  to  re- 
deem you.  He  so  loves  you,  that  whatever  facilitates  the 
expression  of  his  love,  receives  an  expression  of  his  divine 
esteem  :  by  sustaining  your  liabilities,  by  surrendering  my 
life  as  an  equivalent  for  your  transgressions,  and  thus  vin- 
dicating his  law  from  all  appearance  of  connivance  at  sin, 
I  am  setting  his  compassion  at  liberty ;  I  am  removing  a 
restraint  from  his  love,  which  threatened  to  hold  it  in  eter- 
nal suspense  ;  I  am  enabling  his  grace  to  act,  to  save  whom 
it  will ;  and  for  thus  concurring  in  his  benevolent  purpose, 
and  opening  an  ample  channel  for  the  tide  of  his  love  to 
flow  in,  the  Father  loves  me ;  I  receive  such  additional 
expressions  of  his  complacency,  that,  though  ineffably  be- 
loved from  eternity,  he  may  be  said  to  have  added  infinite 
delight  to  infinite.' 

And  how  does  it  enhance  our  conceptions  of  the  divine 
compassion  when  we  reflect  that  there  is  a  sense  in  which 
the  sufferings  of  Christ  were  the  sufferings  of  the  Father 
also.  From  eternity,  their  divine  subsistence  in  the  unity 
of  the  Godhead  had  been  only  short  of  identity  ;  nor  could 
the  circumstance  of  the  Saviour's  humiliation  in  the  slight- 
est degree  relax  the  bonds  of  this  mutual  in-being;  while 
walking  the  earth  in  the  form  of  a  servant,  he  could  still 


HIS         ORIGINALITY.  107 

affirm,    '  My  Father  is  in  me,  and  T  in  him I  and 

my  Father  are  one.'  Once  and  again  did  the  paternal 
complacency  overflow,  surprising  the  world  with  expres- 
sions of  infinite  delight,  and  inviting  us  to  resign  our 
hearts  at  once  and  forever  to  his  beloved  Son  ;  besides 
which,  numerous  intimations  are  given,  that  the  mysterious 
interchange  of  divine  affection  which  had  existed  from 
eternity,  continued  in  undiminished  activity  ;  that  the  In- 
carnate Word  was  often  surrounded  as  with  an  atmosphere 
instinct  with  love,  into  which  God  had  breathed  the  ele- 
ments of  the  joy  which  He  had  with  the  Father  before 
the  world  was  ;  that  had  the  great  designs  of  mercy  al- 
lowed, the  paternal  love,  as  if  impatient  of  his  continu- 
ance on  earth,  would  have  borne  him  from  the  world,  and 
resumed  him  to  himself  again. 

The  love  of  God  then  invites  our  adoration,  not  only  as 
it,  at  first,  sent  his  only  begotten  Son  ;  during  every  mo- 
ment of  the  Saviour's  sojourn  on  earth,  that  love  was  re- 
peating its  gift,  was  making  an  infinite  sacrifice  for  sinners  ; 
while  every  pang  he  endured  in  the  prosecution  of  his 
work  was  the  infliction  of  a  wound  in  the  very  heart  of 
paternal  love.  Who  then  shall  venture  to  speak  of  the 
appeal  which  was  made  to  that  love,  of  the  trial  to  which 
that  love  was  put,  when  the  blessed  Jesus  took  into  his 
hand  the  cup  of  suffering,  when  his  capacity  for  suffering 
was  the  only  limitation  his  sufferings  knew.  If  it  be  true 
that  God  is  always  in  vital,  sympathetic  communication 
with  every  part  of  the  suffering  creation  ;  that,  as  the  sen- 
sorium  of  the  universe,  he  apprehends  every  emotion  and 
commiserates  every  thrill  of  anguish,  how  exquisitely 
must  he  have  felt  the  filial  appeal,  when,  in  the  extremity 
of  pain,  in  the  very  crisis  of  his  agonizing  task,  the  Sav- 
iour cried,  '  My  God,  my  God  ;  why  hast  thou  forsaken 
me! '  Were  it  possible  for  a  moment  to  occur,  in  which 


108  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

the  worship  of  heaven  could  be  lost  on  the  divine  attention; 
in  which  the  infinite  mind  could  be  concentrated  and  con- 
fined to  one  object  alone;  that,  surely,  must  have  been 
the  moment.  Were  it  possible  that  any  juncture  could 
have  arrived,  in  which  the  paternal  love  could  have  repent- 
ed the  sacrifice  it  had  made  for  man ;  that,  surely,  must 
have  been  the  hour. 

What  a  new  and  amazing  insight,  then,  does  it  give  us 
into  his  love  for  sinners,  that  it  was  able  to  bear  the  stress 
of  that  crisis,  that  it  did  not  yield  and  give  way  to  the  in- 
calculable power  of  that  appeal.  This  is  a  circumstance, 
which,  if  I  may  so  say,  puts  into  our  hands  a  line,  enabling 
us  to  fathom  his  love  to  an  infinite  depth  ;  but  we  find  it 
immeasurably  deeper  still.  It  invests  the  attractions  of 
the  cross  with  augmented  power ;  for  in  the  sufferings  of 
that  scene  we  behold  more — if  more  we  are  capable  of 
seeing — more  even  than  the  love  of  Christ ;  in  every 
pang  which  is  there  endured,  we  behold  the  throes  of  pa- 
ternal love,  the  pulsations  and  tears  of  infinite  compassion  ; 
more  than  the  creation  in  travail,  the  divine  Creator  him- 
self travailing  in  the  greatness  of  almighty  love. 

V.  But  if  this  be  an  outline  of  the  means  of  mercy, 
what  can  be  the  nature  of  that  end  which  justifies  the  em- 
ployment of  such  means  ?  To  enlarge  our  views  of  the 
divine  benevolence,  the  Saviour  announces  that  he  brings 
from  heaven  the  vast  donation  of  eternal  life ;  that  the 
sole  object  of  God,  in  sending  him  to  be  lifted  up,  is,  that 
we  might  have  everlasting  life.  The  separation  which 
sin  had  effected  between  God  arid  man,  had  robbed  us  of 
a  whole  order  of  life.  Ail  that  remained  to  us  on  earth, 
was  a  masked  and  modified  form  of  death  ;  and,  as  to  the 
future,  there  was  nothing  left  us  but  to  perish  forever. 
Here,  then,  was  scope  for  divine  benevolence  to  do  as  little, 
or  as  much  as  it  chose.  Here  was  a  wide  waste  of  mis 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  109 

ery,  inferior  only  to  the  blank  and  limitless  desolation  of 
hell,  in  which  divine  compassion  would  find  room  to  expa- 
tiate at  large;  and  in  which,  while  its  richest  stores  could 
be  all  employed,  its  smallest  gift  could  be  an  infinite  gratu- 
ity, showing  like  a  single  star  in  the  darkness  of  midnight, 
But  he  chose  it  to  be  the  theatre  of  his  mightiest  grace. 
As  if  heaven  with  all  its  amplitude,  were  too  confined,  he 
sought  to  enlarge  the  sphere  of  his  beneficence,  by  the  ad- 
dition of  another  province;  and,  as  if  to  take  the  universe 
by  surprise,  to  put  forth  his  grace  in  a  form  which  it  had 
not  entered  into  the  busy  and  far-reaching  minds  of  angels 
to  conceive,  he  chose  that  that  province  should  be  this  sink- 
ing world.  But  there  is  suspended  over  it  a  sweeping 
sentence  of  utter  condemnation  :  the  clouds  of  wrath  arc 
collected  around  it  ;  the  materials  of  destruction  have  been 
piled  up  for  ages,  and  still  they  continue  to  increase;  it  is 
the  place  where  Satan's  seat  is,  and  all  its  population  he 
holds  in  allegiance ;  it  is  the  immediate  precincts  and 
neighborhood  of  hell.  Yes,  but  these  are  the  mighty  im- 
pediments which  it  is  the  glory  of  God  to  cope  with  and 
overcome  ;  these  are  the  hopeless  materials,  the  elements 
of  damnation,  out  of  which  he  delights  to  raise  the  fabric 
of  eternal  life.  To  deliver  us  only  from  the  impending 
evil,  or  to  confer  on  us  merely  a  limited  good,  could  not 
have  satisfied  his  paternal  heart.  Having  committed  him- 
self to  the  amazing  work  of  our  redemption,  he  resolved 
that  he  would  spare  nothing  however  costly,  withhold 
nothing  however  dear,  which  was  essential  to  the  consum- 
mation of  the  design.  Having  begun  to  bless  us,  he  de- 
termined that  he  would  not  stop' short  of  heaven  itself; 
that  he  would  not  stop  even  there,  but  would  continue  to 
surround  us  with  favors,  to  heap  on  us  gift  after  gift,  until 
he  had  filled  our  capacity  for  enjoyment,  and  had  opened 
to  us  all  the  treasures  of  eternal  life. 
For  this  high  purpose,  his  peculiar  presence  was  neces- 


110  THE    GREAT       TEACHER. 

sary  amongst  us;  accordingly,  he  erected  a  throne  on 
earth,  making  it  the  sceneof  his  especial  grace,  and  of  won- 
ders surpassing  those  of  heaven.  The  course  of  justice 
requires  that  sin  should  be  not  merely  pardoned,  but  pun- 
ished, or  expiated;  he  compasses  both  by  appointing  his 
only  begotten  Son,  first  to  expiate,  and  then  forgive.  But 
man  is  severed  from  the  life  of  God  ;  his  soul  is  so  palsied 
and  disabled  by  the  deadly  poison  of  sin,  that  his  spiritual 
system  is  incapable  of  appropriating  and  circulating  the 
element  of  a  divine  life  were  it  even  provided  ;  and  so  prone, 
so  ingenious  is  he  to  pervert  every  blessing  he  receives, 
and  to  employ  it  as  a  weapon  against  the  divine  Bestower,. 
that  providence  can  hardly  dare  to  bless  him.  But  God  is 
not  to  be  thus  defeated:  he  sent  his  Son  to  assume  our  hu- 
manity ;  that  through  him  he  might  open  the  springs  of 
his  life-giving  nature  anew,  and  henceforth  maintain  a 
perpetual  stream  of  his  vital  and  transforming  spirit;  that, 
by  this  mysterious  adjunction  of  our  nature  to  his,  he  him- 
self might  henceforth  live  through  all  the  powers  of  the 
soul — light,  in  its  understanding;  love,  in  its  affections;  a 
perpetual  current  of  blessedness  and  joy,  blended  with  the 
stream  of  its  own  consciousness  ;  and  life  to  its  immortali- 
ty, life  of  the  most  exalted  order.  But  the  properties  of 
that  life,  who  on  earth  shall  describe?  It  is  more  than  a 
simple  element  of  good,  a  single  blessing ;  it  is  a  vast  as- 
semblage of  blessings.  All  other  things,  at  best,  are  only 
accessaries  to  happiness ;  this  is  happiness  itself.  Com- 
pared with  this,  a  bare  perpetuity  of  existence,  is  only  a 
mockery  of  life,  deserves  only  the  name  of  death ;  this  is 
existence,  enriched  with  the  highest  positive  blessedness ; 
life,  purified,  exalted,  applied  to  the  loftiest  purposes,  car- 
ried out  to  its  utmost  extent  of  enjoyment ;  the  very  crown 
of  being.  Everlasting  life  is  a  name  for  a  blessing,  which 
enables  us  to  challenge,  with  impunity,  the  universe  of 


HIS       ORIGINALITY,  111 

evil,  and  to  write  our  names  as  heirs,  on  all  the  universe  of 
good  j  it  is  God  himself  multiplied  in  the  souls  of  his  people. 

VI.  And,  as  the  representative  of  the  Father,  our  bless- 
ed Lord  offered  this  gift  to  all.  Human  reason,  arguing 
from  the  limited  application  of  the  benefit,  would  infer  that 
the  extent  of  the  love  which  provided,  and  the  value  of  the 
means  which  procured  it,  are  limited  also ;  would  exam- 
ine them  by  the  torture  of  its  logic,  and  bring  its  insignifi- 
cant line  to  the  measurement  of  boundless  grace.  Human 
selfishness  would  make  a  monopoly  of  eternal  life.  The 
Jewish  christians  would  fain  have  made  it  a  local  and  na- 
tional benefit;  till  the  unconfinable  spirit  came,  and  show- 
ed them  that,  like  the  air,  it  belonged  to  the  world.  And 
the  inheritors  of  their  selfishness,  in  every  succeeding  age, 
have  attempted  to  number  Israel,  to  count  the  people  ;  have 
adhered  to  the  persuasion  that  the  great  gift  of  eternal  life 
is  only  to  be  offered  to  a  party.  But  an  attempt  to  impris- 
on the  air,  and  to  enchain  the  light,  would  be  wise  and 
salutary  compared  with  this. 

Of  the  angels  that  kept  not  their  first  estate,  we  read, 
that  God  hath  reserved  them  in  everlasting  chains,  under 
darkness,  unto  the  judgment  of  the  great  day.  From 
which  we  learn,  that  when  any  part  of  the  creation  sins, 
and  falls  away  from  God,  the  natural,  direct,  and  if  mercy 
interpose  not,  the  inevitable  consequence  of  such  apostacy, 
is  everlasting  and  remediless  punishment.  Why  did  not 
sin  then  entail  this  awful  consequence  on  man  ?  Why  is 
it  that  some  other  race  of  intelligent  beings  is  not,  at  this 
moment,  reading  concerning  us,  what  we  have  just  quoted 
of  the  apostate  angels — that  the  race  of  man,  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  earth  who  kept  not  their  first  estate,  God  hath 
reserved  in  everlasting  chains  of  darkness  against  the 
judgment  of  the  great  day  1  Our  only  reply  is,  that  God 


112  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

having  designed  our  salvation,  devised  an  expedient,  in  the 
sacrifice  of  Christ,  of  unlimited  value — unlimited,  by  right 
of  its  own  nature,  as  God  himself  is  infinite ;  so  that  the 
love  of  God,  acting  through  the  atonement  of  Christ,  has 
been,  from  the  beginning  of  time,  keeping  all  the  living 
out  of  hell,  and  conducting  multitudes  to  heaven ;  and  thus 
operating,  as  it  is  at  this  moment,  in  favor  of  all  mankind. 
To  this  source  it  is  that  our  Lord  would  have  us  to  ascribe 
our  common  mercies ;  he  would  put  every  individual  of 
our  race  to  take  a  census  of  the  divine  favors  ;  to  compute 
how  many  of  these  he  enjoys  in  common  with  the  species, 
and  how  many,  besides,  are  conferred  in  particular  on 
himself;  and,  finally,  to.  draw  the  inevitable  conclusion, 
that  universality  belongs  to  the  divine  goodness.  And, 
while  his  ordinary  blessings  are  chartered  to  the  world, 
shall  the  stigma  of  exclusiveness  be  reserved  for  his  grace 
alone?  '  I  am  the  light  of  the  world,'  said  Christ:  a 
blessing  universal  as  the  light.  He  came  to  demolish 
every  wall  of  partition,  to  throw  open  every  compartment 
in  the  temple  of  creation,  that  every  worshipper  might 
have  free  and  equal  access  to  the  God  of  the  temple.  He 
so  unveiled  and  presented  the  character  of  God,  that  every 
human  being  should  feel  it  to  be  looking  on  himself,  cast- 
ing an  aspect  of  benignity  directly  on  himself.  The  mes- 
sage of  mercy  which  he  brought  from  the  Father  was 
meant  for  the  ear  of  the  world ;  '  whoso  hath  ears  to  hear, 
let  him  hear.'  And  supposing  the  world  to  be  assembled, 
and  audience  obtained,  this  was  the  music  which  broke 
from  his  lips,  '  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  his 
only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should 
not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life.'  He  gave  him,  to 
encircle  the  world  with  an  atmosphere  of  grace,  as  real 
and  universal,  as  the  elemental  air  which  encompasses  and 
circulates  around  the  globe  itself;  and  whoever  chooses  to 
inhale  it,  hath  eternal  life. 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  113 

Herein  is  love'!  That  he  should  have  raised  our  world 
from  the  gloomy  suburbs  of  hell,  and  have  lifted  it  into 
the  radiance  of  an  orbit  next  his  throne :  that  he  should 
have  made  our  hatred  subserve  the  purposes  of  his  love, 
and  have  educed  from  our  evil  a  greater  good  than  would 
have  otherwise  existed  ;  that  he  should  have  adopted  our 
nature  into  the  person  of  his*  Son,  and  have  carried  it  to 
the  highest  throne  of  the  highest  heavens  ;  that  he  should 
confer  on  us  an  honor,  to  which  a  retinue  of  angels  would 
form  no  comparison,  no  addition — himself  inhabiting  and 
possessing  us  with  his  own  life,  making  us  instinct  with 
his  own  Spirit;  that  the  origin  of  all  this  should  be  his 
spontaneous  love ;  that  the  means  of  it  should  be  the  in- 
carnation and  death  of  his  only  begotten  Son,  and  its  con- 
summation— but  for  that  we  have  at  present  only  a  name, 
standing  in  the  stead  of  an  infinite  meaning — everlasting 
life; — whatever  the  point  from  which  we  contemplate  his 
love,  the  prospect  widens  into  infinitude  ;  the  subject  grows 
in  our  hands  ;  amasses  glory  on  glory,  till  it  becomes  too 
bright  for  contemplation,  and  towers  as  high  as  the  heaven 
is  above  the  earth.  O  what  a  God,  what  a  Father,  what 
an  ocean  of  love  is  the  God  of  our  salvation  !  Having 
collected  all  the  riches  of  the  universe,  and  laid  open  all 
the  resources  of  his  infinite  nature,  he  gave  them  all  into 
the  hands  of  Christ,  and  said,  '  These,  all  these,  are  for 
man  ;  use  them  for  man ;  distribute  them  to  men  ;  if  ne- 
cessary, confer  them  all  upon  man,  in  order  to  convince 
him  that  there  is  no  love  in  the  universe  but  mine,  and 
that  his  happiness  consists  in  loving  me,  and  giving  him- 
self to  me  in  return.'  In  discharge  of  this  momentous 
trust,  the  Word  became  flesh  and  dwelt  among  us.  It 
was  to  render  this  vast  deposit  available  that  he  sprinkled 
it  with  his  blood ;  an  act  by  which  he,,  at  the  same  time,  both 
made  it  ours,  and  added  to  its  original  value  an  infinity  of 
7 


114  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

worth ;  an  act  by  which  he  created  for  the  world  a  truth 
incomparably  more  precious  than  aught  which  the  ark 
contained — that  the  richest  gift,  and  the  costliest  sacrifice, 
have  been  selected  by  God  as  the  only  adequate  expres- 
sion of  his  love  to  man. 

Our  redemption  by  Christ  is  an  exhibition  of  grace 
which  God  himself  cannot  surpass  :  unexpected  develope- 
ments  of  its  relations  and  glories  will,  no  doubt,  through 
eternity  be  constantly  rising  to  view,  and  maintaining  for 
it  a  character  of  ever  new  and  increasing  interest;  our 
conceptions  of  its  excellence  will  be  continually  receiving 
fresh  accessions  ;  but  while  its  future  glory  may  surpass 
its  present  in  the  eyes  of  the  redeemed,  God,  if  I  may  be 
allowed  to  say  so,  the  blessed  God  has  deprived  himself 
of  the  power  of  ever  eclipsing  that  glory  by  exhibiting  to 
the  universe  a  richer  display  of  love.  But  well  may  his 
infinite  mind  be  satisfied  with  this  as  his  crowning  work; 
for  he  has  now  demonstrated  to  all  his  intelligent  creation, 
that  there  is  no  love  but  his. 

VII.  But  the  Saviour  had  not  yet  completed  his  rep- 
resentation of  the  divine  character.  He  had  rolled  away 
the  thick  darkness  from  before  the  throne  of  God,  and  had 
revealed  him  to  the  world  as  light  and  love ;  but  it  re- 
mained to  attemper  the  radiance  of  the  light,  and  to  soften 
and  humanize  the  love.  As  long  as  we  remain  immersed 
in  sense,  we  must  be  indebted  for  all  our  conceptions  to 
sensible  objects  ;  hence  the  purest  and  most  abstract  of  hu- 
man sciences  has  its  diagrams ;  and  Christianity  the  most 
spiritual  form  of  religion,  employs  its  symbols.  The  same 
necessity  has,  in  every  age,  expressed  itself  in  ardent  de- 
sires for  sensible  manifestations  of  the  Divine  Being.  The 
entreaty  of  Moses,  *  I  beseech  thee  show  me  thy  glory/ 
was  again  repeated  by  Philip,  when  he  said,  '  Show  us  the 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  115 

Father,  and  it  sufficeth  us  ; '  and  both  requests  were  only 
the  echo  of  a  universal  desire ;  a  desire  of  the  mind  for 
something  to  sustain  it  in  its  most  etherial  of  efforts,  its 
endeavors  to  think  of  God. 

Another  necessity  requiring  to  be  met,  was  the  exagger- 
ated fears  of  the  penitent  sinner,  when  interpreting  the  rec- 
toral  office  of  the  Father  in  the  covenant  of  grace,  into  a 
proof  of  his  avenging  inexorableness.  In  the  ministry  of 
the  Gospel,  the  constant  reference  which  is  necessarily 
made  to  his  just  requirements  in  maintaining  the  rights  of 
Deity,  is  extremely  liable  to  produce  on  a  mind,  perturbed 
with  guilt,  an  impression  of  dread,  which  no  mere  abstract 
descriptions  of  the  love  of  God  can  effectually  remove ; 
which  makes  it  impossible  to  speak  of  that  love  in  terms 
of  excess.  Now,  of  both  these  necessities  the  Saviour  took 
special  cognizance ;  against  each  of  them  he  fully  provided, 
when,  standing  forth  before  the  eye  of  the  world,  he  pro- 
claimed himself  the  perfect  representative  of  the  Father; 
and  in  that  capacity,  challenged  for  the  Father,  the  confi- 
dence, and  affection,  and  cordial  allegiance  of  mankind. 
4 1  am  in  the  Father,  said  he,  and  the  Father  is  in  me ;'  .  . 
.  .  .  .  { from  henceforth  ye  know  him,  and  have  seen  him. 
Philip  saith  unto  him,  Lord,  show  us  the  Father,  and  it 
sufficeth  us.  Jesus  saith  unto  him,  Have  T  been  so  long 
time  with  you,  and  yet  hast  thou  not  known  me,  Philip  ? 
He  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father ;  and  how  say- 
est  thou  then,  Show  us  the  Father  ?  Believest  thou  not 
that  I  am  in  the  Father,  and  the  Father  in  me? .  .  .  the  Fa- 
ther that  dwelleth  in  me,  he  doeth  the  works.  Believe  me, 
that  I  am  in  the  Father,  and  the  Father  in  me  :  or  else  be- 
lieve me  for  the  very  works'  sake'.  '  I  and  my  Father  are 
one.' 

Instead  of  leaving  our  faith  to  apprehend  an  infinite  ab- 
straction, he  has,  in  his  own  person,  invested  the  Deity 
with  that  power  over  our  minds  which  a  definite  object  alone 


116  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

can  exercise.     Instead  of  claiming  our  affections  merely 
for  the  invisible  and  impalpable  cause  of  mercy,  he  wrestles 
with  our  fears,  and   challenges  our  embracing  affections, 
by  protesting  that  there  is  no  feature  to  be  loved  in  himself, 
which  is  not  equally  to  be  loved  in  the  character  of  God ; 
that   if  we  admire  the  tenderness  and  compassion  of  his 
character,  we  are  admiring  the  very  same  qualities  in  the 
Father;  that  we  do  injustice  to  his  representative  charac- 
ter, if  we  do  not  receive  it  en-tire  as  a  perfect  reduplication 
of  the  mind  of  God.     He  would  have  us  to  believe,  and  to 
act  on  the  belief,  that  so  far  from  attempting  to  bribe  and 
beguile  our  affections  for  God,  by  expressing  for  us  a  kind- 
ness to  which  the  heart  of  God  does  not  respond,  he  could 
not  have  omitted  a  single  expression  of  that  kindness  with- 
out giving  us  a  defective  idea  of  the  divine  benevolence; 
that  so  utterly  impossible  would  it  be  for  him  to  give  us 
an  exaggerated  conception  of  that  benevolence,  that  could 
we  by  any  process  collect  and  concentrate  all  the  varied 
expressions  of  his  grace  to  a  focal  point,  and   receive  the 
effect  of  the  whole  entire,  and  at  once,  that  effect,  after  all, 
would  be  a  bare  and  inadequate  expression  of  the  love  of 
God  to  man.     Whatever  doctrine  of  grace  he  propounds, 
whatever  promise  he  gives,  whatever  deed  of  love  he  per- 
forms, whatever  divine  attractions  he  exhibits, — every  such 
attraction  in  him  is  to  be  regarded  as  an  index  to  the  same 
quality  indefinitely  greater  in  the  character  of  God.     The 
conduct  of  Christ  is  a  copy,  a  living  map  of  the   immense 
expanse  of  the  divine  perfections,  reduced  from  its  infinite 
dimensions,  and  subdued  to  a  scale  studiously  adapted  to 
the  feeble  vision  of  man.     The  character  of  God,  so  infin- 
itely  reduced,  is  to  be  seen  in  the  life  of  Christ ;    the  ex- 
cellences of  Christ,  if  infinitely  magnified  and  restored  to 
their  original  proportions,  are  to  be   found   in  the  perfec- 
tions of  God.     The  character  of  Christ  is  the  conception 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  117 

of  a  being  of  infinite  amiableness,  seeking*  to  engage  the 
heart  of  a  world  that  reasons  by  analogy,  and  to  enamour 
it  of  divine  excellence.  How  often  did  he  authenticate 
the  life  of  Jesus,  and  give  it  currency  as  a  copy  of  his  own. 
Had  the  Almighty  Father  veiled  his  glories,  and  dwelt 
among  us,  the  history  which  now  belongs  to  Christ  would 
have  related,  word  for  word,  his  own  condescending 
grace ;  so  that,  in  every  word  and  act  of  Jesus  we  are 
to  recognize,  in  effect,  the  voice  and  movements  of  pater- 
nal love. 

In  the  person  of  Christ,  we  behold  the  eternal  God  en- 
gaged in  an  enterprise  of  boundless  mercy.  To  aid  our 
conceptions  of  his  being,  he  clothes  his  spirituality  in  the 
vestments  of  humanity.  To  convince  us  that  an  unlimit- 
ed concern  for  our  souls  may  co-exist  with  the  utmost  ha- 
tred of  our  sins,  he  shows  us  that  the  river  of  the  water 
of  life  takes  its  rise  from  under  his  throne ;  he  plants  a 
cross,  and  provides  a  sacrifice,  and  enacts  before  the  world 
a  prodigy  of  mercy,  of  which  this  is  the  only  adequate 
solution,  that  he  so  loved  us.  That  no  unwarranted  appre- 
hensions of  his  greatness  might  efface  this  impression  of 
his  love  from  our  minds,  that  all  suspicion  and  distrust 
might  be  made  impossible,  he  shows  us  that  he  can  stoop 
from  an  act  which  saves  a  world,  to  number  the  very  hairs 
of  our  head  ;  that  his  regard  for  the  whole  comprises  a 
regard  for  each  infinitesimal  part ;  so  that  whatever  has 
the  power  of  raising  an  emotion  in  our  breast,  acquires,  by 
that  circumstance,  if  by  nothing  else,  sufficient  importance 
to  receive  his  sympathetic  attention.  Disrobed  of  his  es- 
sential glory,  unattended  by  the  train  and  state  of  heaven, 
as  if  earth  was  to  be  henceforth  his  adopted  home,  he 
came  evidently  attired  for  a  purpose  of  love  ;  mingled  in 
our  common  cares,  and  inscribed  his  name  on  every  ob- 
ject which  speaks  to  the  human  heart.  The  cup  of  sor- 


118  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

row  never  passed  him  untasted:  often  did  he  exhaust  the 
distasteful  draught  himself,  and  return  the  cup  of  gladness 
in  its  stead.  The  human  heart,  in  his  hands,  might  have 
become  a  sacred  harp,  every  chord  of  which  should  have 
sent  forth  none  but  heavenly  music.  The  history  of  his 
labors  of  love,  is  the  shame  and  condemnation  of  unbelief, 
the  argument  of  faith  and  hope,  the  standing  memorial  of 
his  claims  on  the  undouhting  trust  of  a  dependant  world ; 
for  it  presents  him,  not  barely  fulfilling  the  condi- 
tions of  our  redemption,  but  far  exceeding  them ;  going 
beyond  the  complement  of  grace;  overflowing  in  the  su- 
pererogatory acts  of  beneficence  ;  and  anticipating  the  ten- 
der offices  proper  to  heaven,  by  beginning  even  here  to 
wipe  away  all  tears  from  all  faces. 

VIII.  Having  restored  our  confidence  in  the  divine 
character,  the  Saviour  sought  to  complete  our  love  to  God, 
by  teaching  us  to  address  him  by  a  new  name ;  a  name 
which  should  be  at  once  a;  sign  of  our  affection  to  him, 
and  a  pledge  of  his  tender  regard  and  relationship  to  us. 
He  knew  that  the  name  which  is  entwined  with  the  dear- 
est associations  of  the  human  heart,  is  also  the  name  which 
hath  most  music  in  the  ear  of  God — and  therefore  he 
selected  and  encouraged  us  to  employ  it — the  endearing 
appellation  of  Father.  And  that  we  might  not  be  deterred 
from  taking  it  into  our  lips  by  the  fear  of  presumption,  he 
continues  to  repeat  it,  again  and  again,  until  it  has  become 
familiar  to  our  ear.  Thus  instructed  and  encouraged,  he 
leads  us  through  a  new  and  living  wray,  every  step  of 
which  is  hung  with  emblems  of  paternal  love,  adorned 
with  memorials  of  redeeming  grace ;  conducts  us  into  the 
holiest  of  ail  .even  to  our  Father's  throne;  reveals  him 
there  surrounded  with  all  the  heaped  and  opulent  resources 
of  infinite  grace ;  and  then,  in  order  that  our  confidence- 


HIS      ORIGINALITY.  119 

and  love  might  find  speech,  and  our  poverty  lose  itself  in 
boundless  wealth,  he  adds,  *  Ask,  and  ye  shall  receive.' 
'  If  ye,  being  evil  know  how  to  give  good  gifts  unto  your 
children,  how  much  more  shall  your  heavenly  Father 
give  his  Holy  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  him.7 

It  will  then,  I  think,  be  conceded  that  the  character  of 
the  Supreme  Being,  as  it  came  from  the  hands  of  Christ, 
was  an  original  subject,  a  new  gift  to  the  world.  It  was 
new  in  the  universal  aspect  of  benevolence  which  it  bears 
towards  man  ;  as  opposed  to  those  limited  conceptions  of 
his  goodness  which  were  cherished,  if  not  propagated,  by 
the  Jewish  economy:  new  in  its  mode  of  exemplification; 
for  it  was  seen,  not  in  the  works  of  nature,  the  operations 
of  providence,  or  the  rites  of  religion,  but  in  the  living  in- 
carnation, the  real  and  visible  person  of  his  only  begotten 
Son:  new  in  its  bestowments ;  for  hitherto,  however  rich 
his  gifts  to  his  church  had  been,  he  had  always  accompani- 
ed them  with  an  assurance  that  he  had  yet  a  gift  in  reserve 
in  which  all  good  would  be  summed  up ;  and  however 
various  they  had  been,  they  all  bore  some  resemblance  and 
relation  to  each  other,  in  value,  at  least,  if  in  nothing  else ; 
but  now  in  the  person  of  Christ  he  bestowed  the  promised 
gift,  eclipsed  his  former  grace,  and  conferred  a  donation, 
which,  as  it  was  perfectly  original,  so  it  can  never  be  re- 
peated or  equalled ;  since  every  subsequent  donation  is 
only  a  consequence  and  part  of  the  gift,  and  eternity  itself 
will  be  necessary  for  the  full  developement  of  all  it  con- 
tains:  new  in  its  paternal  aspect;  not  merely  representing 
him  as  our  Father,  but  teaching  us  to  address  him  as  such ; 
to  regard  him  as  the  fountain  of  all  that  parental  affection 
which  has  flown  down,  generation  after  generation,  through 
the  channel  of  human  hearts  ;  and  to  believe  that  all  the 
pity,  compassion,  and  love,  which  he  has  ever  poured 
through  parental  natures,  are  as  nothing  compared  with 


120  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

what  resides  in  his  own  heart;  that  however  much  he 
may  have  imparted,  infinitely  more,  a  reserved  ocean,  must 
ever  remain  behind  in  himself;  and  that  all  this  is  in  per- 
petual activity,  interesting  itself  in  the  wants,  and  provid- 
ing for  the  happiness  of  his  people :  and  new,  also,  in  the 
mode  of  its  future  connection  with  man,  through  a  Media- 
tor ;  for  since  Christ  came  to  declare  the  Father  unto  us, 
it  is  the  exalted  privilege  of  believers  to  contemplate  God 
in  Christ,  to  approach  his  throne  in  the  name,  and  relying 
on  the  successful  intercession  of  Christ. 

*  And  this  is  life  eternal,  that  they  might  know  thee  the 
only  true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ,  whom  thou  hast  sent.' 
Knowledge,  of  all  kinds,  is  the  wealth  proper  to  a  rational 
nature ;  but  to  captivate  us  with  the  knowledge  of  God, 
our  Lord  declares  that  this  is  the  only  science  which  con- 
ducts to  happiness,  the  only  wealth  which  can  be  converted 
into  unfading  crowns  and  eternal  life.  As  the 'whole  of 
celestial  blessedness  is  often,  in  scripture,  made  to  consist 
in  the  vision  of  God  ;  so  the  whole  of  religion  on  earth,  is 
represented  as  consisting  in  the  knowledge  of  him.  Be- 
cause, first,  all  sin  originates  in  the  ignorance  of  God  ;  that 
is,  it  is  indebted  for  its  existence  to  the  absence  of  God, 
temporary  or  habitual,  from  the  mind ;  it  triumphs  most 
where  he  is  most  completely  unknown  or  forgotten ;  it 
could  not  lift  up  its  deformity  with  the  hope  of  being  loved, 
in  the  strong  light  of  his  glorious  presence.  Because, 
secondly,  were  the  mind  discharged  and  clear  of  all  the 
obstructions  of  sin,  it  would  be  only  necessary  for  it  to  see 
God,  in  order  to  be  supremely  enamoured  of  him;  the 
bare  perception  of  his  image,  as  pourtrayed  by  Christ, 
would  alone  be  sufficient  to  change  the  soul,  by  mere  in- 
tensity of  love,  into  the  same  image.  And  because,  third- 
ly although  the  mind  is  filled  with  hostile  influences,  it  is 
only  necessary  for  the  Holy  Spirit  to  bring  him  before  it, 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  121 

to  place  his  character  advantageously  before  its  eye,  and 
the  sight  attracts,  softens,  subdues,  ceases  not  to  operate, 
till  it  has  transformed  the  soul  into  its  own  likeness. 

Is  it  then  producing  this  saving  effect  upon  us  ?  or  is 
the  vast  and  glorious  conception  of  God  inhabiting  our 
minds  to  no  purpose  ?  Shall  the  knowledge  of  God,  which 
Jesus  Christ  came  from  heaven  to  impart,  remain  in  our 
possession,  through  a  whole  life  as  a  dead  and  useless 
thing  ?  have  we  nothing  of  less  moment  to  sport  with,  that 
we  must  needs  trifle  with  this?  shall  it  at  last  be  reckoned 
our  greatest  curse,  that  we  knew  the  blessed  God?  We 
cannot  even  glance  an  inquiring  look  towards  him,  but  Je- 
sus advances  to  encourage  the  act,  saying,  '  To  know  him 
is  life  eternal.'  We  cannot  place  ourselves  in  the  pleasant 
beams  of  his  light,  cannot  be  conscious  of  a  single  emo- 
tion of  admiration  of  his  character,  but  Jesus  addresses 
himself  to  ouf  rising  hopes,  and  says,  '  You  can  be  like 
him ;  you  may  even  resemble  the  blessed  God ;  Be  ye 
perfect  as  your  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect.'  We  cannot 
cherish  a  desire,  or  breathe  a  sigh  for  conformity,  but  the 
Holy  Spirit  forthwith  begins  to  transcribe  his  will  on  the 
inner  man,  to  abridge  and  to  epitomize  his  likeness  on  the 
heart  in  the  process  of  regeneration.  God,  who  com- 
manded the  light  to  shine  out  of  darkness,  is  willing  to 
shine  into  our  hearts,  to  give  the  light  of  the  knowledge 
of  his  glory  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ. 


122  THE       GREAT       TEACHER, 


SECTION    II. CONCERNING    HIMSELF. 


4  No  man  knoweth  the  Son  but  the  Father. ' 

*  I,'  SAID  Christ,  '  am  the  light  of  the  world : '  he  arose 
on  the  world,  an  object  as  wonderful  and  new  in  his  per- 
son and  office,  as  the  sun  when  it  first  took  rank  among 
the  stars  of  heaven  ;  and  like  the  solar  light,  while  pour- 
ing a  flood  of  radiance  on  every  thing  else,  he  remains 
himself  a  glorious  mystery.  Notwithstanding  the  diver- 
sified dreams  in  which  the  world  had  for  ages  indulged 
concerning  his  person  and  advent ;  and  all  the  materials 
for  fancy  to  work  with,  supplied  by  the  paintings  of  proph- 
ecy; and  the  significant  shadows  which  providence  had 
thrown  before;  his  appearance  at  last  took  mankind  by 
surprise ;  a  surprise  for  which  the  world  avenged  itself, 
by  arming  against  him  and  all  who  should  afterwards  as- 
sume his  badge  ;  but  a  surprise  which  overwhelmed  the 
church  with  a  measure  of  gratitude  and  delight  to  which 
it  has  ever  since  been  giving  expression,  and  the  full  utter- 
ance of  which  it  reserves  for  a  world  where  its  strains,  re- 
lieved from  all  interruption,  shall  be  swelled  and  aided  by 
all  the  harps  of  God. 

The  supernatural  truths  by  which  he  is  described  are 
so  early  instilled  into  our  minds,  that  we  ought  not  to  be 
able  to  remember  the  time  when  first  we  heard  them ;  and, 
having  become  so  familiar  to  us,  it  requires  a  considerable 
mental  effort  to  realize  the  thought,  that  they  were  ever 
original.  But  though  the  human  mind  had  been  for  ages 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  1*23 

training  to  receive  him,  he  found  himself,  on  becoming 
man,  a  stranger  in  a  world  of  strangers. 

Judging  from  the  conduct  of  his  disciples,  the  Mosaic 
economy  does  not  appear  to  have  given  them  a  single  cor- 
rect presentiment  concerning  him.  His  character  and 
claims  were  so  perfectly  unique,-  that  although  their  relig- 
ion was  instituted  expressly  to  be  his  analogue — >andit  was 
the  only  thing  in  the  world  which  did  represent  him — yet 
they  did  not  at  first  perceive  a  single  point  of  coincidence. 
Every  truth  which  he  uttered  respecting  himself  fell  on 
their  ear  with  the  strangeness  of  a  new  revelation ;  and 
instead  of  being  received  into  their  minds  with  the  wel- 
come of  an  expected  guest,  had  to  create  a  place  for  itself, 
or  to  wait  till  they  could  feel  themselves  reconciled  to  the 
novelty.  They  were  not,  indeed,  wanting  in  occasional 
confessions  and  ascriptions,  which  satisfied  his  claims, 
and  called  forth  his  approbation  ;  but  much  of  this  hom- 
age was  involuntarily  won  by  some  sudden  escape  of  his 
glory,  some  surprising  display  of  his  greatness :  and  the 
frequent  inconsistencies,  in  their  conduct,  by  which  that 
homage  was  in  a  sense  recalled  or  neutralized,  showed 
that  though  a  new  disturbing  power  was  at  work  within 
them,  it  had  not  yet  succeeded  in  acquiring  the  dominion 
of  principle  and  conviction. 

Nor  was  it  till  after  his  return  to  heaven  that  they  began 
to  appreciate  aright  the  claims  of  the  illustrious  visitant. 
Then,  when  the  excitement  attending  the  vision  began  to 
subside,  they  found  they  had  been  entertaning  the  Lord  of 
angels  unawares :  then,  when  the  Spirit  brought  all 
things  to  their  remembrance  ;  when  the  words  of  Christ 
were  once  more  repeated  in  their  ears,  and  the  wonders  of 
his  life  were  made  to  pass  in  slow  and  stately  procession 
before  their  eyes,  they  awoke  as  from  a  trance,  and  pro- 
claimed that  the  Word  had  been  made  flesh,  and  dwelt 


1^4  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

among  us,  and  that  they  had  beheld  his  glory,  the  glory 
as  of  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father,  full  of  grace  and 
truth.  At  the  dictation  of  the  Spirit  they  proceeded  to  re- 
cord a  sketch  of  his  life ;  but  they  labored  at  no  encomium  ; 
they  left  that  life  to  speak  for  itself;  they  felt  that  in  sim- 
ply uttering  the  name  of  Jesus,  they  were  repeating  a 
name  for  all  that  is  transcendant  in  humanity,  and  all  that 
is  glorious  in  Deity.  Henceforth  they  sought  to  atone  for 
their  past  misapprehensions  of  him  by  confessing  and  re- 
cording those  misapprehensions  to  their  own  condemna- 
tion: by  showing  to  the  world  that  he  had  displaced  every 
other  idea  of  greatness  from  their  minds ;  and  that,  if 
while  proclaiming  his  worth  to  others,  they  were  called 
to  die  for  his  sake,  it  was  the  highest  honor  to  which  they 
aspired.  The  vision  which  John  beheld  of  him,  when  he 
saw  in  the  midst  of  the  seven  golden  candlesticks  one  like 
unto  the  Son  of  man,  was  only,  in  one  sense,  an  image  of 
his  surpassing  glory,  as  he  was  continually  present  to  the 
minds  of  them  all. 

I.  Looking  at  the  outline  of  our  Saviour's  character, 
which  ancient  prophecy  had  sketched,  and  comparing  it 
with  the  more  finished  portrait  which,  he  drew  of  himself, 
it  is  obvious  that,  even  supposing  the  former  had  taken  full 
effect  on  the  minds  of  his  disciples,  there  was  yet  so  much 
of  originality  in  the  additions  of  the  latter,  that  they  could 
scarcely  fail  to  contemplate  it  without  receiving  an  im" 
pression  of  entire  novelty.  The  pen  of  inspiration  had  re- 
corded that  his  goings  forth  had  been  from  everlasting ; 
in  illustration  of  this  sublime  truth,  he  raised  the  veil  of 
the  past  eternity,  carried  back  their  thoughts  through  date- 
less ages  before  the  world  began,  towards  the  unimagina- 
ble and  awful  place  where  God  dwells,  assuring  them  that 
there  never  was  a  period  when  he  was  not  there ;  there, 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  12i> 

as  an  object  of  infinite  complacency ;  there,  in  a  fellow- 
ship of  glory  with  Deity ;  there,  in  an  identity  of  charac- 
ter, and  unity  of  essence,  a  mutual  intuition  comprising 
knowledge  which  no  created  mind  can  be  made  to  compre- 
hend: that  he,  to  whose  human  voice  they  were  then  list- 
ening, had  there  seen  the  cycles  of  eternity  revolve,  the 
ages  of  time  expire,  the  fathers  of  their  nation  and  the 
lights  of  their  church,  many  kings  and  prophets,  and 
righteous  men,  fill  up  the  measure  of  their  days  and  that 
thence  he  had  actually  come  forth  and  descended  to  save 
the  world. 

Prophecy,  indeed,  had  accustomed  them  to  expect  in 
Christ  a  duality  of  natures  and  a  consequent  mysterious- 
ness  of  character  and  person  which  would  entitle  him  to 
be  called  Wonderful.  But  what  imagination  was  prepar- 
ed, even  by  this  exciting  prediction,  for  the  great  reality. 
It  is  true,  a  herald  was  sent  before  to  call  the  attention  of 
the  world,  and  to  place  it  in  a  state  of  preparation  for  his 
coming;  but,  'should  he  condescend  to  speak  of  himself,' 
it  might  have  been  said,  'by  what  mental  revolution,  what 
new  combination  of  thought,  shall  we  prepare  to  under- 
stand him'?  Perhaps,  however,  he  may  maintain  a  reserve 
on  this  subject ;  a  regard  for  our  limited  capacity,  and  the 
peculiar  object  of  his  mission,  may  induce  him  to  hold  the 
mysteries  of  his  nature  in  abeyance.'  And  he  did  so. 
He  frequently  made  it  apparent  that  his  object  was  not  to 
expound  the  complexity  of  his  nature,  but  to  pour  into  the 
heart  of  the  world  the  entire  advantage  which  that  com- 
plexity was  capable  of  producing ;  and  that,  as  he  had 
stooped  to  the  low  conditions  of  humanity,  he  sought  not 
tenaciously  to  assert  the  dignity  of  his  superior  claims,  but 
considered  his  humiliation  as  consisting  partly  in  dwelling 
on  the  degradation  to  which  he  had  stooped.  But  though 
he  frequently  waived  the  subject  in  question,  yet  as  often 


£*2G  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

as  necessity  urged  him  to  advert  to  it,  he  must  be  confess- 
ed to  have  uttered  'a  new  thing  in  the  earth.'  We  are 
in  the  full  and  familiar  -.possession  of  his  sayings  :  but  had 
we  heard  him  when  first  he  declared,  '  No  man  hath  as- 
cended up  to  heaven,  but  he  that  came  down  from  heaven, 
even  the  Son  of  man  who  is  in  heaven  ;'  '  Before  Abra- 
ham was,  I  am  ;'  should  we  not  have  felt  that  we  were 
listening  to  a  being  to  whom  all  space  is  a  point,  and  all 
time  but  a  moment :  that  our  thoughts  could  not  keep  pace 
with  the  rapid  and  boundless  transitions  his  words  re- 
quired ;  that  he  was  approaching  a  subject  which  the  lim- 
ited terms,  and  analogical  language  of  human  speech  have 
no  signs  to  represent,  no  powers  to  convey  ;  a  subject  of 
which  our  minds,  accustomed  as  they  are  to  the  mere  parts 
of  things,  to  fractional  thoughts,  and  fragments  of  truth, 
could  receive  only,  at  most,  an  angular  point,  a  very  ob- 
scure glimpse  and  confused  impression  ? 

Had  we  heard  him  affirm,  in  the  face  of  his  evident  hu- 
manity, that  he  was  not  of  this  world  ;  that  we  knew  not 
whence  we  came  or  whither  he  went ;  that  the  Father 
alone,  as  a  being  of  infinite  intuition,  knew  him  to  perfec- 
tion ;  should  we  not  have  felt  that  we  were  listening  to 
blasphemy,  or  else  to  the  only  being  incapable  of  blas- 
phemy, because  he  alone  can  be  the  object  of  it ;  that  a 
principle  of  interpretation,  hitherto  unknown  to  the  world 
must  be  found  and  applied  to  his  self  descriptions,  a  prin- 
ciple which  may  well  be  sacred  to  that  purpose  alone,  since 
the  language  of  no  other  being  will  need  its  application  ? 
Could  we  have  heard  him  forgiving  sins ;  asserting  his 
right  to  do  so,  *  even  upon  earth  ; '  summoning  the  world 
to  yield  up  its  heart  to  him  ;  to  make  its  homage  to  the  Fa- 
ther a  pattern  of  its  homage  to  him  ;  could  we  have  heard 
this  without  feeling  that  God  must  be  present  in  the  person 
of  the  mysterious  speaker,  that  the  throne  of  Deity  must 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  127 

be,  in  a  sense,  removed  from  heaven  to  earth  ?  Could  we 
have  heard  him  emphatically  call  himself  the  Son  of  man, 
and  solemnly  announce  that  there  is  a  sense  in  which  the 
Father  is  greater  than  he,  without  feeling  that  it  was  an 
announcement  which  a  mere  creature  could  never  have 
thought  it  necessary  to  make,  and  wondering  at  the  great- 
ness which  could  excuse  and  justify  such  statements? 

Had  we  been  the  individuals  to  whose  retirement  under 
the  iig-tree  he  was   privy  ;    whose  history  he  disclosed  at 
the  well  of  Samaria  ;  to  whose  unuttered  thoughts  he  often 
adverted  and  replied,  as  others  reply  to  our  words,  and  to 
whom  he  pledged  his  unceasing  presence,  wherever  we 
might  be  scattered,  or  whenever  we  might  meet ;    should 
we  not  have  felt  the  natural  impossibility  of  leaving  the 
presence  of  such  a  being,  and  have  yielded  to  the  impress- 
ive thought,  the  unavoidable  inference,  that  he  who  stood 
before  us  in  mysterious  combination  with  a  nature  like  our 
own,  was  at  the  same  moment  present,  in  his  superior  na- 
ture, in   regions  immeasurably  remote   from   earth — the 
sovereign  and  uncircumscribed  energy  of  the  universe? 
He  defended  his  alleged  breach  of  the  sabbatic  law,  by  af- 
firming that  in  his   providential  capacity,  like  the  eternal 
Father,  he  knew  no  sabbath;  that  as  the  soundness  of  the 
rnan  hs  had  restored  was  the  result  of  his  healing  power, 
so  the  repose  of  the  universe  was  the  result  of  his  unin- 
termitting  activity  conjointly  with  the  Father.     With  the 
same  unaffected  simplicity  and  ease,  he  both  acknowledged 
inferiority  to   God,  and  claimed  equality  with  him ;    and 
promised  to  every  Christian,  in  the  Father's  name,  'We 
will  come  unto  him  and  make  our  abode  with  him.'     Now 
could  we  have  heard  these  new  and  diverse  statements  from 
his  lips,  without  feeling  that  the  being  who  advanced  them 
was  a  new  form  of  existence ;   that  in  his  person,  time  and 
eternity,  infinity  and  limitation,  laws  the  most  opposite  met 


128  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

and  were  reconciled  ;  that  we  beheld  in  him  the  grand  an- 
omaly of  infinite  majesty  clothed  with  meekness  ;  supreme 
dominion  rendering  obedience ;  absolute  sovereignty,  ex- 
hibiting entire  resignation;  God,  manifest  in  the  flesh? 

Prophecy  had  created  the  expectation  of  an  illustrious 
Deliverer,  for  whom  a  class  of  descriptive  names  had  been 
hallowed,  and  for  ages  embalmed,  and  set  apart,  as  sacred 
to  him  alone.  The  Messiah  or  Christ;  the  Son  of  man; 
the  Son  of  God ;  were  apellations  as  incommunicable,  if 
not  as  awful,  as  the  solemn  Jah,  or  Jehovah,  of  the  Supreme 
Being  ;  for  they  described  a  person  and  an  office  of  an  or- 
der so  entirely  unique,  as  to  make  all  participation  or  re- 
semblance impossible,  by  engrossing  to  itself  every  thing 
peculiar  to  it.  Jesus  came,  appropriated  these  honors  to 
himself  as  his  proper  right,  and  wore  them  with  such  an 
air  of  accordant  ease  as  to  make  them  his  own,  with  such 
a  port  of  unlabored  majesty  as  to  translate  them  into  an 
obvious  and  sober  description  of  himself.  If  his  right  to 
assume  them  was  challenged,  his  defence  was  prompt  and 
complete ;  he  pleaded  the  sublimity  of  his  doctrine  ;  ap- 
pealed to  the  superiority  of  his  life ;  referred  to  the  admit- 
ted testimony  of  the  Baptist;  pointed  attention  to  the  voice 
from  heaven  ;  invited  a  comparison  of  his  history  with  the 
prophecies  concerning  the  Messiah,  declaring  that  his  life 
would  be  found  to  be  a  faithful  comment  on  the  sacred  text ; 
and  called  for  his  miracles — a  splendid  array  of  evidence, 
which  forced  even  from  demons  the  unwilling  recogni- 
tion of  his  claims,  and  left  unbelief  without  any  cloke  for 
its  sin. 

II.  Thus  warranted  by  the  constitution  of  his  person, 
and  standing  on  a  mountainous  accumulation  of  evidence, 
Avhich  enabled  him  to  speak  as  from  the  skies,  he  proposed 
himself  to  our  affection  and  faith  as  the  unveiled  char- 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  129 

acter  of  God.      This  may  be  regarded  as  his  grand,  ori- 
ginal and  all-comprehending  claim. 

1.  Were  it  relevant  to  our  subject,  we  might  show,  first, 
that  the  actions  of  Jesus  evinced  the  existence  of  God, 
Had  man  never  previously  heard,  never  entertained  the 
conception  of  a  Supreme  Being,  the  miracles  of  Christ 
would  have  inevitably  suggested  and  embodied  the  grand 
idea.      But  he  appeared  among  a  people  with  whom  this 
was  already  a  primary  truth.      Besides,  the  scripture  has 
nothing  to  say  to  the  man  who  denies  it ;   only  this,  that  is 
« the  fool  who  saith  within  his  heart,  there  is  no  God  ;'  and 
'  that  the  devils  believe  and  tremble.'     The  existence  of  the 
Deity  is  a  truth  fundamental  of  every  other  ;  it  is  the  throne 
of  religion  :    and  it  would  ill  comport  with  the  composed 
majesty  and  stately   grandeur  of  religion  to  be  constantly 
proving  or  protesting  that  it  has  a  throne.    He  who  denies 
the  divine  existence,  renounces  by  that  very  act  his  own 
humanity ;    falls  out  of  the  ranks  of  rational  beings  and 
courts  community  and  fellowship  with  brutes.      Accord- 
ingly, religion  while  it  condescends  to  follow  him  to  the 
outermost  limits  of  rationality,  and  thus  maintains  its  char 
acter  for  compassion  ;   yet  remembering  the  state  and  hon- 
ors due  to  its  throne,  it  abandons  him  there,  and  proceeding' 
in  its  onward  march  through  an  empire  of  intelligent  be- 
ings, receives  their  homage,  and  perfects  their  intelligence, 
by  re-uniting  it  with  the  divine  mind. 

2.  As  the  representative  of  Deity  in  this  lower  world, 
the  Saviour  by  his  incarnation,  embodied  the  divine  spiritu- 
ality. '  Ye   have  neither  heard  his  voice  at  any  time,'  said 
Christ,   'nor  seen  his  shape;    shape,  outline,  dimensions, 
he  has  none  ;  as  an  infinite  spirit  he  can  have  none.     How 
then  can  we  think  of  him  ?  for  unless  we  can  obtain  some 
sensible   manifestation,  or  definite  conception  of  him,  we 
have  nothing  around  which  our  thoughts  can  collect,  or  on 


130  THE      GREAT       TEACHER. 

which  our  affections  can  settle  and  rest ;  he  will  elude  and 
escape  our  laboring  apprehensions.  It  is  in  vain  to  allege, 
that  the  sublimest  material  representation  can  bear  no  pro- 
portion to  his  glory,  no  relation  to  his  nature;  and,  conse- 
quently, that  it  could  not  fail  to  impart  to  the  mind  un wor- 
thy conceptions  of  his  greatness.  Without  some  sensible 
representation  of  the  divine  being,  the  understanding  can 
make  no  approach  to  him,  the  affections  have  nothing  to 
embrace:  faith  itself,  like  the  dove  of  the  deluge,  has  noth- 
ing on  which  it  can  alight ;  it  finds  itself  voyaging  in  an 
objectless  universe,  an  infinite  vacuity;  and  piety  must 
suffer  and  pine  as  in  an  atmosphere  too  subtle  and  unsub- 
stantial for  its  present  earthly  constitution. 

This  feeling  of  want,  this  ardent  craving  after  a  definite 
object  which  the  mind  can  lay  hold  of  and  apprehend,  has 
been  the  most  frequent  occasion  of  idolatry  and  atheism. 
The  doctrine  of  an  infinite  spirit  was  the  only  pure  abstrac- 
tion in  the  human  mind  :  all  other  things  were  objects  ; 
had  their  appropriate  images,  and  the  power  of  imprinting 
themselves  upon  the  mind,  by  sensible  impressions  ;  while 
this,  standing  in  the  mind  solitary  and  aloof,  subject  to  the 
antagonist  influence  and  constant  encroachment  of  materi- 
al objects,  was  unable  alone  to  maintain  its  ground,  and  in 
perpetual  danger  of  being  displaced  and  lost  from  the  mind. 
And  hence,  instead  of  making  this  doctrine  a  place  of  rest, 
men  have  made  it  a  starting  point  to  one  of  two  extremes; 
they  have  either  proceeded  to  refine  on  the  nature  of  Deity 
till  they  have  reached  transcendental  atheism,  an  infinite 
nothing  ;  or  else,  advancing  in  the  opposite  direction,  they 
have  brought  him  within  the  sphere  of  the  senses,  and  em- 
bodied him  in  the  work  of  their  own  hands.  Every  erro- 
neous view  of  God  which  the  world  has  entertained,  was 
either  scepticism,  arrived  at  one  or  other  of  its  numerous 
stages,  in  its  way  to  atheism ;  or  else,  it  was  idolatry  rest- 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  131 

ing  awhile,  at  one  or  other  of  its  stages,  on  its  way  to  the 
opposite  issue.  From  the  moment  that  the  doctrine  of  an 
infinite  essence  has  at  any  time,  been  deposited  in  the  hu- 
man mind,  it  has  begun  to  evaporate ;  and  while  the  scep- 
tic, on  the  one  hand,  rejoiced  in  the  vacuum  which  en- 
sued;  and  the  idolater,  on  the  other,  found  or  feigned  a 
residuum  which  he  took  and  moulded  into  a  god  ;  they  both 
concurred,  at  least,  in  this  one  sentiment — that  the  theory 
of  an  infinite  spirit  yields  no  repose  to  the  intellect,  no  ob- 
ject for  the  affections. 

Passing  by  the  peculiar  provisions  of  the  patriarchal 
church,  we  cannot  hesitate  to  regard  the  Jewish  economy^ 
in  part,  as  a  temporary  but  elaborate  construction  for  aid- 
ing the  mind  in  its  conceptions  of  a  purely  spiritual  being. 
All  the  angelic  visits,  and  supernatural  appearances,  with 
which  that  church  was  favored,  answered  this  end.  It  en- 
joyed a  local  manifestation  of  the  Deity:  the  cloud  of  glo- 
ry that  dwelt  within  the  veil,  resided  there  as  a  temporary 
substitute  till  he  should  appear  in  whom  would  dwell  all 
the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily ;  and,  probably,  most 
of  those  devotional  expressions,  in  the  Old  Testament, 
which  raise  our  thoughts  to  heaven,  only  carried  the 
thoughts  of  the  Israelites  within  the  veil.  The  whole  of 
their  worship  was  a  presentiment  and  promise  of  the  ap- 
proaching manifestation  of  God  in  Christ ;  and  not  merely 
a  promise  of  it,  but  an  actual  provision  to  aid  them  in  lifting 
their  thoughts  to  God,  and  conceiving  of  the  divine  personal- 
ity, till  that  more  glorious  manifestation  should  take  place. 

Behold,  in  Christ,  the  image  of  the  invisible  God! 
Having  left  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  and  embodied  the  at- 
tributes of  God  in  an  incarnate  form,  he  came  forth,  and 
stood  before  the  world,  and  proclaimed  himself  the  perma- 
nent, adequate,  apprehensible  representation  of  the  invisi- 
ble Deity.  '  I  am  in  the  Father,'  said  he,  *  and  the  Father 


132  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

in  me.'  *  From  henceforth  ye  know  the  Father,  and  have 
seen  him.'  '  He  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father 
also.'  '  I  and  my  Father  are  one.'  It  is  true,  that  he  is 
no  longer  cognizant  to  our  senses ;  but  having  assumed  an 
incarnate  form,  is  evermore  visible  to  the  eye  of  faith  :  he 
can  never  ascend  beyond  the  flight  of  the  sanctified  ima- 
gination. And  if  imagination  be  an  attribute  of  the  mind, 
and  Christ  be  entitled  to  the  homage  of  all  our  powers, 
then  to  depicture  his  person  and  pourtray  his  glory,  is  not 
merely  legitimate,  but  the  most  suitable  and  exalted  object 
on  which  it  is  possible  for  the  imagination  to  be  employ- 
ed. When  he  ascended  up,  *  and  a  cloud  received  him 
out  of  their  sight,'  were  his  disciples  never  more  to  think 
of  God  as  manifest  in  the  flesh  ?  They  are  directed  to 
look  at  the  things  which  are  not  seen,  to  place  them  before 
their  mental  eye  in  the  most  vivid  imagery  ;  and  of  all 
the  imaginable  and  illustrious  objects  in  the  temple  above, 
he  surely  stands  central  and  supreme.  In  order  to  inflame 
our  affections,  and  carry  our  imaginations  with  him,  he  af- 
fords us  glimpses  of  his  offices  and  relations  in  heaven, 
and  prays  that  we  may  behold  his  glory  5  thus  making 
that  glory,  henceforth,  the  appropriate  and  engrossing  ob- 
ject of  evangelical  faith. 

Nor,  in  thus  yielding  to  the  dictates  of  piety,  and  the 
claims  of  Christ,  can  we  be  charged  with  worshipping 
his  human  nature.  Though  that  nature  is  exalted  above 
the  whole  creation ;  though  it  is  crowned  with  glory  and 
honor  ;  though  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  is  in  it ;  though 
it  forms  even  a  part  of  the  person  of  God,  yet  the  object 
we  adore,  is  he  to  whom  that  nature  is  hypostatically  unit- 
ed, and  who  stooped  to  that  union  expressly  that  he  might 
become  a  more  palpable  and  definite  object  of  our  love. 
He  invites  us  to  draw  near  and  contemplate  this  great  sight ; 
and  on  approaching,  we  behold  the  invisible  God  invested 
in  the  robes  of  humanity,  and  emitting  a  glory  so  softened 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  133 

and  subdued  that  our  eyes  can  rest  on  it  without  dismay; 
in  all  our  endeavors  to  raise  our  thoughts  to  God,  the  idea 
of  Jesus  comes  to  our  aid,  like  the  mystic  ladder  of  the 
patriarch's  dream,  and  they  ascend  and  descend  upon  the 
Son  of  man.  In  all  our  acts  of  sincere  devotion,  we  be- 
hold him  by  faith,  standing  betwixt  us  and  the  eternal 
throne,  waiting  to  meet  our  flagging  and  half-way  efforts, 
to  assist  us  up  the  laborious  ascent,  to  raise  and  present  our 
spiritual  offerings  ;  or,  if  our  devotion  ascends  still  higher 
to  him  that  sits  upon  the  throne,  whom  do  we  there  behold 
but  the  image  of  the  still  invisible  God,  the  Lamb  in  the 
midst  of  the  throne.  He  is  the  great  ordinance  by  which 
God  and  man  commune  together;  the  appointed  place  of 
meeting  between  God  and  human  thoughts;  for  as  all  the 

O  O  I 

lines  of  the  divine  manifestation  converge  and  meet  in  him, 
so  all  our  devotional  thoughts  and  affections  centre  in  him 
also.  And  there  is,  we  think,  ground  to  believe  that  he 
will  sustain  this  relation  for  ever ;  that  whatever  may  be 
the  modification  of  the  present  economy,  when  throwing 
off  the  accidents  and  relations  of  time,  it  shall  retain  only 
the  elements  and  receive  the  impress  of  eternity,  yet  he,  as 

.  the  light  of  heaven  and  the  temple  thereof,  will  remain  the 
sole  manifestation  of  Deity,  to  which  every  eye  will  be  di- 
rected and  every  heart  be  drawn  ;  that  no  angel  or  saint 
will  ever  know  aught  of  the  invisible  God,  but  as  it  is 
brought  forth  and  unveiled  in  theadorable  person  of  Christ. 
Of  the  future  visibility  of  the  divine  essence,  indeed,  we 

•would  speak  with  unaffected  diffidence  ;  but  the  prayer  of 
Christ,  that  his  people  may  be  with  him  where  he  is  to  be- 
hold his  glory,  while  it  discloses  the  chief  ingredient  of 
celestial  blessedness,  makes  known  also  the  conspicuous 
object  of  heavenly  contemplation.  By  adopting  our  nature 
into  a  personal  subsistence  with  his  own  divinity,  he  has 
given  a  centre,  if  we  may  say  so,  to  the  uncircumscribed 


134  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

essence  of  the  Deity,  and  has  prepared  a  spectacle  for  the 
universe,  resembling,  but  ineffably  transcending,  the  angel 
standing  in  the  midst  of  the  sun. 

3.  But  chiefly  did  he  rest  his  claims  to  the  regards  of 
the  world,  on  the  ground  that  he  was  the  adequate  repre- 
sentative of  the  divine  character.  The  condition  of  the 
world  had  rendered  the  advent  of  such  a  being,  and  the 
institution  of  such  an  office  indispensably  necessary.  The 
knowledge  of  the  divine  character  is  the  great  conserva- 
tive principle  of  holiness,  and  the  bulwark  of  human  hap- 
piness :  and  it  was  the  persuasion  of  this  fact,  which  led 
the  enemy  of  man  to  make  that  knowledge  the  object  of  his 
first  assault.  He  knew  that,  dispossessed  of  this  we  should 
be  divested  of  all  our  strength,  and  the  ready  dupes  of 
every  artifice  he  might  choose  to  practise.  And  the  aw- 
ful results  of  his  enterprise  have  proved  the  truth  of  his 
calculations,  and  must  surely  have  gratified  to  the  full  his 
boundless  appetite  for  human  destruction.  Planting  him- 
self between  God  and  man,  he  sought  to  intercept  every 
beam  from  heaven,  and  to  throw  his  awful  shadow  across 
the  earth ;  the  gloom  of  his  presence  fell,  like  a  pall  over 
human  hope*  involving  us  in  darkness  that  might  be  felt. 
It  is  true,  there  were  many  unobliterated  traces  of  God  to 
be  found  in  creation,  but  these  related  chiefly  to  his  natural 
greatness :  his  moral  perfections  could  only  be  deduced 
from  his  own  supernatural  disclosures ;  and  these  as  they 
existed  among  the  Jews,  were  intentionally  imperfect. 
Truths,  the  most  vital,  wore  the  form  of  enigmas ;  the 
church  was  local  and  limited  ;  the  moral  law  was  oppress- 
ed and  borne  down  by  the  ceremonial ;  the  sensible  was 
appealed  to  more  than  the  intellectual,  sight  more  than 
faith  ;  sin  was  only  ceremonially  atoned  for  ;  the  eternal 
future  was  but  dimly  seen  ;  and  the  divine  perfections 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  135 

only  hinted  at.      Theirs  was  an  economy  which  professed 
not  to  be  day,  but  only  the  dawn  and  promise  of  a  day. 

The  office  of  revealing  and  representing  the  character 
of  the  Deity  was  reserved  for  him  who  had  been  from  eter- 
nity in  the  bosom  of  the  Father ;  the  image  of  the  invisi- 
ble God.  What  no  verbal  description  could  pourtray,  what 
no  image  in  creation  could  represent,  what  the  loftiest 
seraph  in  heaven  would  have  shrunk  from  under  a  sense 
of  infinite  inadequacy,  that  Christ  undertook,  professed, 
and  accomplished — to  bless  the  world  with  a  living,  actual, 
adequate  impersonation  of  the  supreme  God.  It  was  ex- 
pressly for  this  that  he  stooped  to  employ  the  organs  and 
faculties  of  a  human  being;  for  it  was  only  by  adopting 
that  appropriate  but  humble  expedient  that  he  could  make 
himself  visible  and  familiar  to  our  eyes,  while  working 
out  and  embodying  the  character  of  infinite  love.  Array- 
ed in  a  body  which  God  had  prepared  and  not  man,  he 
challenged  to  himself  the  exclusive  power  of  unveiling 
the  divine  perfections  ;  *  No  man,'  said  he,  '  knoweth  the 
Father  save  the  Son,  and  he  to  whomsoever  the  Son 
shall  reveal  him.'  He  took,  as  it  became  him,  the  high- 
est ground  ;  for  he  felt  that  he  held  the  salvation  of  the 
world  in  his  hand  •  that  the  illumination  of  mankind  was 
entirely  at  his  discretion  :  that,  at  that  moment,  the  fulness 
of  the  Godhead  was  in  him  ;  and  that  had  he  decided  it 
should  remain  there  concealed,  the  unrelieved  darkness  of 
the  world  would  have  been  made  eternal,  and  man  must 
have  perished  in  ignorance  of  God. 

That  he  came  to  show  us  the  Father  is  evident  from  con- 
siderations such  as  these  :  first,  he  claimed  to  be  regarded 
as  the  habitation  of  Deity.  '  Destroy  this  temple,'  said  he, 
*  and  in  three  days  I  will  raise  it  again  ;'  '  He  spake  of 
the  temple  of  his  body.'  To  constitute  a  place,  or  a  per- 
son, a  temple,  the  indwelling  presence  of  Jehovah  is  the  pri- 


136  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

mary  requisite.  The  Jews  could  have  had  no  conception  of 
a  temple  apart  from  this  ;  for  in  the  holiest  of  all,  Jehovah 
had  dwelt  as  in  his  earthly  palace,  enthroned  in  veiled  and 
unapproachable  splendor :  nor  could  Jesus  have  intended  to 
claim  less  than  this  for  the  sanctuary  of  his  body,  without 
offering  violence  to  modes  of  thinking  which  had  become 
sacred,  and  to  associations  the  most  precious.  On  another 
occasion,  when  standing  in  the  holy  place,  he  affirmed,  '  I 
sa'y  unto  you,  that  in  this  place  is  one  greater  than  the  tem- 
ple ;'  he  said  this  while  perfectly  aware  that  the  hallowed 
object  with  which  he  compared  himself  was,  in  their  eyes, 
the  image  of  every  thing  magnificent  and  divine ;  that  it 
was  their  heaven  upon  earth  ;  that  they  allowed  nothing 
to  surpass  the  temple  except  the  God  who  dwelt  in  it ;  but 
he  could  add,  the  Father  is  in  me,  ina  sense  which  justified 
the  comparison,  and  which  turned  even  the  symbolic  glory 
which  descended  at  the  dedication  into  eclipse  and  dark- 
ness. Had  the  vision  of  Isaiah  been  repeated,  'when  he 
saw  his  glory  and  spake  of  him,'  it  could  have  made  no 
addition  to  the  greatness  he  already  derived  from  the  per- 
sonal inhabitation  of  the  Deity.  Had  Moses  and  Elijah, 
attended  by  all  the  hierarchal  orders  of  the  Jewish  church 
of  every  age,  descended  as  on  Tabor,  and  laid  their  official 
honors  at  his  feet,  it  would  have  been  only  an  augmenta- 
tion of  his  glory  in  declaration  and  appearance.  If,  on 
entering  his  '  Father's  house,'  an  invisible  hand  had  poured 
out  all  its  wealth  before  him  ;  had  all  its  symbols  of  power 
and  office  taken  life  and  form,  and  settled  upon  him  ;  had 
all  its  priests  departed,  its  fires  become  extinct,  and  the  last 
wreath  of  incense  mounted  to  heaven  :  had  its  ancient 
shekinah  from  within  the  veil,  emerged  and  enthroned 
itself  on  his  brow:  and  had  all  its  angel-guards  made 
themselves  visible,  and  fallen  into  his  train,  the  enactment 
of  the  scene  would  have  been  only  the  homage  of  a  splen- 
did pageant  paid  to  a  glory  unlimited  and  divine.  The 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  1  37 

glorious  train  of  the  divine  perfections  had  come  down  and 
filled  the  temple  of  his  humanity.  Truth  was  seated  in 
his  lips;  and  thence  gave  forth  in  abundance  unsolicited 
oracles,  such  as  mortal  ears  had  never  before  heard,  nor 
the  records  of  heavenly  wisdom  themselves  contained. 
His  heart  was  an  altar  on  which  infinite  love  could  visibly 
burn  ;  and  in  which  it  found  for  itself  a  sacrifice  as  costly 
and  congenial  as  its  soul  could  desire.  Goodness  and 
power  employed  him,  to  assert  their  majesty,  by  bending 
all  things  to  the  furtherance  of  human  happiness.  In  his 
breast,  mercy  may  be  said  to  have  held  her  court ;  and  in 
his  looks  of  compassion,  which  were  always  bent  over  hu- 
man misery,  to  have  found  the  most  prevailing  advocates 
and  intercessors.  Holiness  could  dispense  with  an  ark 
and  tables  to  contain  its  laws  ;  for  in  his  life  its  enshrined 
glory  was  made  so  transparent,  that  even  demons  confessed 
him  to  be  the  Holy  One  of  God.  While  justice,  which 
had  asked  only  an  equivalent  for  the  wrong  it  had  sustain- 
ed at  the  hands  of  man,  found  that  the  illustrious  victim 
was  the  living  temple  itself;  that  though  replenished 
throughout  with  the  presence  of  Deity,  the  whole  sanctua- 
'ry  was  one  entire  propitiatory.  Like  the  moveable  sanc- 
tuary which  accompanied  the  Israelites  in  the  wilderness, 
he  was  the  tabernacle  of  witness ;  having  been  made  flesh, 
he  came  and  set  up  his  tabernacle  in  the  midst  of  the  hu- 
man encampment,  pitched  his  tent  side  by  side  with  our 
tents,  to  attest  the  presence  of  God,  to  make  us  familiar 
with  his  character  and  sensible  of  his  love.  The  great 
inscription  of  Immanuel,  God  with  us,  was  so  legible  on 
every  part,  that  the  thoughtful  and  reverent  could  not  raise 
their  eye  to  Christ,  without  being  conscious  of  feelings  of 
reverence  and  awe,  like  those  awakened  by  the  sight  of  a 
temple.  Even  the  godless  and  profane,  \vho  armed  them- 
selves and  went  out  to  destroy  this  temple,  were  repeatedly 


138  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

abashed  as  they  drew  near,  and  forgot  their  purpose  ;  dis- 
armed and  ravished  at  the  sight  of  its  divine  magnificence, 
they  remained  awhile  to  worship,  and  then  returned  to 
confess  their  admiration  ;  occasionally,  they  beheld  the 
shrine  of  his  humanity  flooded  with  light,  bathed  in  the 
glory  of  the  present  Deity ;  a  glory  which  was  obviously 
attempered  and  designed  to  make  man  in  love  with  God, 
for  it  was  full  of  grace  and  truth. 

Secondly,  his  frequent  declarations  that  he  had  received 
universal  empire,  can  only  be  construed  as  meant  to  estab- 
lish his  representative  claims.  Affirmations  to  this  effect 
he  uttered  in  terms  such  as  these :  '  All  things  are  deliv- 
ered unto  me  of  my  Father ;  all  things  that  the  Father 
hath  are  mine;  all  power  is  given  unto  me  in  heaven  and 
on  earth.'  Now  for  what  adequate,  what  assignable  rea- 
son could  this  mighty  transfer  have  been  made  ?  this  trans- 
fer of  all  things  into  the  hands  of  the  incarnate  Saviour,  if 
not  for  the  purpose  of  employing  and  making  them  known  ? 
Concealment  could  not  possibly  be  the  object  of  giving 
him  this  infinite  treasure ;  for  that  end  might  have  been 
equally  answered  by  allowing  it  to  remain  where  it  had 
been  from  eternity — shut  up  in  the  bosom  of  God.  But  it' 
was  committed  to  him  with  a  commission  to  make  it  known  ; 
it  was  given  to  him,  like  light  to  the  sun,  with  a  command 
to  shine  and  turn  our  darkness  into  day. 

That  he  was  the  ordained  medium  of  the  divine  glory, 
is  apparent  thirdly^  from  his  '  Making  himself  equal  with 
God.'  The  fact  that  he  did  this,  is  here  assumed :  the  ob- 
ject he  aimed  at,  could  have  only  one  alternative  :  for  if  it 
was  not  to  aggrandize  himself  at  the  expense  of  the  Deity, 
to  sink  the  character  of  the  Divine  Being  in  the  eyes  of 
the  world,  and  to  erect  his  own  pretensions  on  its  ruins, 
his  sole  design  must  have  been  to  furnish  an  adequate  man- 
ifestation of  the  supreme  excellence.  That  this  alone  was 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  139 

his  aim  is  obvious  ;  for  if  he  ever  for  a  moment  intermit- 
ted his  endeavor  to  enlarge  our  views  of  that  excellence,  it 
was  only  to  realize  the  conceptions- which  his  words  had 
awakened,  by  giving  to  them  life  and  form  in  godlike 
deeds. 

The  same  end  is  evident,  fourthly,  from  his  uniformly 
referring  every  thing  good  and  gracious  he  did  to  the  love 
of  God.  It  is  true,  that  in  exalting  the  character  of  God, 
he  was  virtually  magnifying  his  own  ;  for  they  are  strictly 
identical.  But  as  far  as  his  own  claims,  as  Mediator,  are 
distinct  from  those  of  the  invisible  God,  he  laid  himself  out 
to  aggrandize  the  paternal  character.  Take,  as  an  exam- 
ple the  declaration  in  which  he  ascribes  his  advent  to  the 
fact,  that  God  loved  the  world.  Had  he  attributed  his 
coming  to  his  own  love,  the  representation  would  have  been 
most  literally  true  ;  but  he  would  have  us  to  see  in  it  noth- 
ing but  the  love  of  God.  Bent  on  alluring  us  to  God,  by 
filling  our  mind  with  a  vast  conception  of  paternal  grace, 
he  would  have  us  to  refer  his  own  incarnation,  with  all  its 
attendant  blessings,  entirely  to  the  grace  of  God.  He 
was  content  to  conceal  himself,  to  merge  his  own  claims, 
as  far  as  that  is  consistent  with  the  laws  of  mediation,  that 
he  might  occupy  the  whole  of  our  field  of  vision  with  the 
perfections  of  God. 

And  that  such  was  his  distinguished  office  is  apparent, 
fifthly,  from  declarations  which  are  all  but  express  on  the 
subject.  In  his  intercessory  prayer,  for  instance,  he  de- 
clared, '  I  have  manifested  thy  name ;  I  have  glorified  thee 
on  earth  ;  I  have  finished  the  work  which  thou  gavest  me 
to  do.'  Language,  which  intimates  that  the  supreme  ob- 
ject of  his  coming  into  the  world  had  been  to  illustrate  the 
glorious  character  of  God ;  and  that  having  done  this,  he 
considered  his  work  on  earth  as  accomplished. 


140  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

III.  It  now  becomes  an  interesting  and  essential  part 
of  our  business,  to  trace  his  mode  of  divine  manifestation. 
As  the  Word  of  God,  he  partly  employed  the  medium  of 
oral  instruction.  And  had  he  sustained  the  character  of 
a  prophet  only,  had  he  added  no  actions  to  his  words,  the 
clearness,  unction,  and  fulness  of  his  teaching  were  such, 
that  the  most  evangelical  writers  of  the  Old  Testament 
might  have  envied  a  place  at  his  feet,  and  have  exclaimed 
with  the  disciples,  '  Lord,  to  whom  shall  we  go  ?  thou 
hast  the  words  of  eternal  life.' 

But  a  verbal  representation  of  the  Divine  Being,  even 
though  it  had  come  direct  from  the  depths  of  the  excellent 
glory,  would  have  been  totally  inadequate  to  the  ends  pro- 
posed ;  and  yet  more  than  this  would  have  been  c  above  all 
that  we  can  ask  or  think.'  Actions  alone  could  adequate- 
ly set  forth  the  grace  of  him,  whose  natural  greatness  is 
such,  that  a  celestial  alphabet,  a  glorious  arrangement  of 
characters  composed  of  an  infinite  number  of  suns  and 
systems,  is  requisite  to  express  it.  The  acts  of  Christ  were 
a  system  of  sublime  hieroglyphics,  every  part  of  which 
stood  for  some  glorious  aspect  of  the  divine  character; 
while,  of  that  system,  his  words  were  meant  to  furnish  us 
with  the  key  and  interpretation.  Actions,  it  is  proverbial, 
speak  louder  than  words;  his  actions  spoke  with  a  voice 
which  unbelief  itself,  though  it  had  stopped  its  ears,  could 
not  resist,  and  which  made  itself  to  be  heard,  even  by  many 
who  were  dead  in  sin ;  a  voice  which,  beginning  at  his  in- 
carnation, went  on  increasing  through  all  his  godlike  deeds 
of  power  and  love,  waxing  louder  and  louder  through  the 
successive  stages  of  his  sufferings  and  death,  his  resurrec- 
tion and  ascension,  till  the  Lord  went  up  with  a  shout ;  and 
which  still  continues  to  swell  in  volume  and  power,  as  he 
goes  on  to  work  out  the  character  of  God,  and  evolve  the 
glorious  purposes  of  grace,  filling  heaven  and  earth,  the 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  141 

illimitable  temple  of  the  universe,  with  the  echoes  of  the 
grand  announcement — that  God  is  love. 

1.  Speaking  to  the  mind  by  sensible  representations, 
was  a  striking  characteristic  even  of  our  Lord's  ordinary 
teaching.  A  memorable  instance  occurred  in  his  reply  to 
the  messengers  of  John,  when  they  came  to  inquire,  'Art 
thou  he  that  should  come;  or  do  we  look  for  another? 
And  in  the  same  hour  he  cured  many  of  their  infirmities, 
and  plagues,  and  of  evil  spirits  ;  and  unto  many  that  were 
blind  he  gave  sight.  Then  said  Jesus  unto  them,  Go  your 
way,  and  tell  John  what  things  ye  have  seen  and  heard.' 
He  foresaw  the  moment  when  these  disciples  would  arrive, 
and  he  prepared  for  it ;  he  knew  the  object  of  their  visit, 
and  he  arrayed  his  demonstrations  accordingly.  And 
what  were  his  preparations?  a  company  of  the  blind,  the 
deaf,  the  leprous,  the  demoniacal,  the  dying;  these  were 
collected  around  him,  and  formed  the  materials  on  which 
he  proposed  to  work;  this  was  the  selection  of  misery, 
the  mass  of  disease  and  death  on  which  he  designed  to 
breathe,  and  create  it  anew.  The  messengers  drew  nigh, 
and  he  made  bare  his  arm :  they  arrived,  and  asked  him 
to  decide  the  question  of  his  Messiahship  :  forthwith  they 
received  his  reply  in  a  series  of  stupendous  miracles.  Fie 
spoke,  and  the  deaf  heard  his  voice;  he  spoke  again,  and 
the  blind  opened  their  eyes  on  the  blessed  light  of  day ; 
he  put  forth  his  hand,  and  the  crimson  fever  faded  at  -his 
touch  ;  he  looked  on  the  dying,  and  they  rose  and  were 
strong  ;  he  called  to  the  phrenzied  demoniac,  and  madness 
itself  fell  down  and  worshipped  him.  '  There,'  said  he, 
behold  my  reply  !  Go,  and  tell  John  what  things  ye  have 
seen  and  heard,  and  abide  by  the  right  interpretation  of 
them.' 

Similar  to  this  was  his  reply,  when  Philip  requested  to 
behold  the  Father.  '  Jesus  answered,  Have  I  been  so  long 


142  THE      GREAT       TEACHER. 

time  with  you,  and  yet  hast  thou  not  known  me,   Philip? 

he  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father from 

henceforth  ye  know  him,  and  have  seen  him.'  The  desire 
of  the  disciple  to  behold  the  sum  of  all  excellence,  is  the 
last  effort,  the  noblest  aspiration  of  the  human  mind.  The 
prompt,  detailed,  and  definite  reply  of  Christ,  showed  his 
high  estimate  of  its  importance,  and  his  desire  to  give  it  a 
final  answer.  This  he  did,  by  calling  attention  to  him- 
self; he  did  not  rebuke  the  desire  of  being  shown  the  Fa- 
ther, but  instantly  and  completely  gratified  it  by  showing 
himself;  while  the  only  rebuke  which  his  words  conveyed, 
was  a  tender  reproach  for  that  mental  obtuseness  which 
could  ask  for  a  supplement  to  perfection,  which  could  look 
for  additions  to  his  own  divinity,  or  think  of  the  paternal 
character  and  existence  as  detached  from  his  own  ;  a  re- 
monstrance for  the  want  of  that  spiritual  intuition  which 
should  have  discerned  in  him  the  concentration  of  the 
whole  moral  greatness,  the  great  name  of  God. 

The  exhibition  of  the  divine  character  was  an  end  so 
sublime,  that  nothing  could  for  a  moment  divert  his  eye 
from  it;  every  action  and  item  of  his  life  was  leferrible  to 
this,  and  subsidiary  to  it.  In  all  he  did,  he  intuitively  saw 
how  the  Father  would  have  done  it,  and  he  immediately 
embodied  and  realized  the  conception.  The  power  which 
had  replenished  the  universe  with  worlds  and  beings,  em- 
ployed his  human  arms,  and  unbent  itself  in  acts  of  heal- 
ing mercy.  Omniscience,  looking  through  his  eyes,  spoke 
of  the  future  as  if  it  were  present,  and  perused  at  pleasure 
the  secrets  of  every  heart.  As  the  centre  of  the  Presence 
which  fills  immensity,  and  the  seat  of  the  will  to  which 
all  things  are  possible,  he  proved  himself  present  where 
he  was  not  seen  ;  issued  his  fiat  to  distant  objects,  and  re- 
ceived obedience  to  a  mere  volition.  He  made  all-suffi- 
cience  intelligible  and  familiar,  by  calling  for  things  that 


HIS        ORIGINALITY.  143 

were  not  and  they  came ;  by  making  the  capacity  of  the 
recipients  the  only  measure  of  his  impartations  ;  and  by 
the  spontaneous  emanation  of  a  virtue  which  went  out  of 
him,  and  healed  them  all.  Had  the  star  which  led  the 
Magi  to  his  feet  been  actually  brought  from  a  distant  sys- 
tem, it  would  only  have  been  a  faint  illustration  of  the  way 
in  which  he  brought  the  perfections  of  God  under  the  cog- 
nizance of  man.  Those  properties  of  the  divine  greatness 
from  which  previously  we  had  seemed  to  stand  at  an  infi- 
nite remoteness,  he  brought  near  and  domesticated,  and  en- 
couraged us  to  consider  them  henceforth  as  our  own. 

2.  *  As  the  Father  gave  me  commandment,  so  I  do.' 
Such  were  the  significant  terms  with  which  the  Saviour 
prefaced  his  godlike  deeds,  as,  completing  one  stage  in  his 
career  of  mercy,  he  advanced  and  addressed  himself  to 
another.  *  This  commandment  have  I  received  of  my  Fa- 
ther;  '  in  other  words,  '  In  all  I  do,  I  am  only  consulting 
the  will,  and  fulfilling  the  designs  of  the  eternal  Father  ; 
so  that  the  history  of  my  earthly  life  will  be  the  exact  re- 
cord of  his  purposes  towards  man,  and  the  adequate  man- 
ifestation of  his  divine  perfections.'  Thus  interpreted,  all 
have  an  infinite  moral ; — of  which  this  is  a  point  and  es- 
sence— that  God  would  vanquish  us  by  love.  Did  he 
come  forth  from  the  Father?  it  was  to  annihilate  the  dis- 
tance, to  bring  us  across  the  gulf  which  sin  had  created  be- 
tween God  and  us,  to  place  us  in  the  domains  of  mercy, 
and  within  reach  of  the  tree  of  life.  Did  he  join  himself 
to  our  nature  ?  it  was  to  show  us  that  God  would  have  us 
to  be  in  the  closest  union  with  himself,  and  that  as  we  can- 
not possibly  be  happy  without  him,  so  neither  can  his  love 
be  satisfied  without  us ;  that  he  is  bent  on  reclaiming  a  race 
of  creatures  who,  though  they  once  rejoiced  in  him,  have 
been  lost  from  his  embrace,  and  of  attaching  them  to  him- 
self by  a  tie  as  new  and  astonishing  to  the  universe,  as  it 


144  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

is  proof  against  all  the  dissevering  powers  of  sin.  He 
lived  among  us,  consuming  himself  in  acts  of  self-denial 
and  labors  of  love ;  it  was  to  teach  us  that  God  is  al- 
ways living  with  us,  that  he  is  an  inmate  of  every  dwelling, 
tasting  every  earthly  sorrow,  arid  regarding  our  wants  as 
the  natural  channels  for  his  fulness  to  flow  in  and  replenish. 
3.  The  motto  of  every  divine  dispensation  to  man  has 
been  the  same,  God  is  love.  The  original  apostacy  com- 
menced in  the  disbelief  and  denial  of  this  truth  ;  for  it  is 
only  by  clearly  discerning  and  cordially  believing  it,  that 
we  remain  in  a  state  of  allegiance  to  God.  But  if  infinite 
benevolence  was  considered  problematical  by  man  prior 
to  the  fall,  by  what  unimaginable  expedient  shall  the  prob- 
lem be  demonstrated  to  him,  now  that  he  looks  on  every 
thing  that  comes  from  God  through  a  medium  of  enmity? 
And  yet  this  very  truth  did  Jesus  adopt  as  his  motto  ;  this 
very  question  he  undertook  to  work  out,  and  set  at  rest  for 
ever.  To  convince  us,  therefore,  that  there  was  no  dissen- 
tient principle  in  the  character  of  God,  that  every  proper- 
ty of  the  divine  nature  consented  and  subscribed  to  this  de- 
claration of  infinite  love  to  man,  it  remained  that  as  these 
perfections  had  been  already  displayed  separately,  they 
should  now  be  all  collected  and  concentrated,  and  put  forth 
in  some  mighty  act  of  grace,  in  some  definite,  overwhelm- 
ing, all-comprehensive  deed  of  love.  This,  and  ineffably 
more  than  this,  was  effected  in  the  decease  which  he  ac- 
complished at  Jerusalem.  On  his  way  to  that  ancient  the- 
atre of  the  divine  perfections,  declarations  such  as  these 
were  constantly  on  his  lips  ;  'As  Moses  lifted  up  the  ser- 
pent in  the  wilderness,  even  so  must  the  Son  of  Man  be 
lifted  up  ;  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not  per- 
ish, but  have  eternal  life.3  '  God  so  loved  the  world,  that 
he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in 
him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life.'  *  I  lay 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  145 

down  my  life  for  my  sheep.'  '  I  give  my  flesh  for  the  life 
of  the  world.'  'I  give  my  life  a  ransom  for  many.'  'This 
commandment  have  I  received  of  my  Father.'  Here  was 
power,  nerving  his  arm,  and  declaring  that  it  would  show 
itself  in  him  mighty  to  save.  Here  was  wisdom,  with  its 
unfolded  plan  of  redemption,  calling  admiration  to  its  amaz- 
ing details  :  and  faithfulness,  honoring  and  accepting  its 
ancient  engagements  :  and  holiness  pressing  to  its  heart 
the  violated  law,  and  meditating  for  its  illustrious  honors ; 
and  love,  rejoicing  to  find  itself  thus  supported;  speaking 
as  confidently  as  if  its  task  were  already  achieved ;  bidding 
the  world  look  up  and  smile ;  and  giving  away  provinces 
and  thrones  in  its  prospective  kingdom. 

Having  thus  taught  us  to  refer  his  death  to  the  divine 
benignity,  having  placed  his  cross  in  a  line  with  the  light 
of  the  divine  countenance,  so  that  on  beholding  the  one  we 
may  be  drawn  to  gaze  on  the  other,  he  poured  out  his  soul 
unto  death.  He  showed  us  that,  while  the  hatred  of  God 
against  sin  is  strong  as  death,  his  love  to  sinners  is  yet 
stronger  than  death.  He  brought  to  an  issue  the  momen- 
tous question,  which  had  been  kept  open  since  the  fall — 
whether  or  not  God  is  light  and  love.  The  satanic  agita- 
tion of  this  parent  truth  was  the  origin  of  human  aliena- 
tion from  God.  And  having  once  brought  it  into  question 
in  the  human  mind,  and  thereby  sown  the  seeds  of  enmity 
against  God,  it  only  remained  for  the  father  of  lies  to  wa- 
ter those  deadly  seeds,  in  order  to  reap  the  fruit  of  a  con- 
tinued triumph  against  the  Supreme.  Besides,  by  widen- 
ing the  breach  which  existed  between  earth  and  heaven, 
Satan  might  calculate  on  the  possibility  of  at  length  realiz- 
ing his  own  lie,  of  wearing  out  the  goodness  which  only 
encountered  abuse,  of  extinguishing  the  last  spark  of  love 
in  the  breast  of  God,  and  of  exasperating  justice  to  doom 
and  destroy  the  whole  species.  Every  moment  of  four 
9 


146  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

thousand  years,  therefore,  he  had  turned  to  account,  in  fo- 
menting the  aversion  of  man  to  God.  By  a  vast,  unslum- 
bering,  and  complicated  system,  the  whole  agency  of  evil 
had  been  kept  in  motion,  and  made  to  bear  upon  man,  ad- 
dressing itself  to  every  passion,  and  entrenching  itself  in 
every  heart :  so  that,  in  a  sense  more  than  figurative,  the 
world,  the  entire  mass  of  humanity,  was  subjected  to  a  de- 
moniacal possession. 

Under  such  tutelage,  (how  could  it  be  otherwise  ?)  every 
dispensation  and  event  was  interpreted  against  God.  Sig- 
nals of  reconciliation  were  hung  out  from  heaven;  treaties 
were  set  on  foot ;  but  men  scowled  back  defiance,  and  ex- 
claimed, '  Depart  from  us;  we  desire  not  the  knowledge  of 
thy  ways.'  Messenger  after  messenger  was  dispatched  to 
entreat  their  attention.  '  but  they  beat  one,  and  stoned  anoth- 
er, and  killed  another.'  During  the  whole  tract  of  time 
the  principle  of  human  hatred  had  gone  on  growing  in  in- 
tensity, collecting  its  materials  of  war,  and  daily  augment- 
ing in  strength  till  it  had  reached  so  gigantic  and  threaten- 
ing a  form,  that  if  it  was  to  be  vanquished  by  love  and  not 
by  power,  it  \vas  evident  that  love  must  put  forth  its  might 
in  an  act  unparalleled,  unimaginable,  and  infinite.  Such 
an  act  was  resolved  on.  Voices  from  heaven  announced  it. 
Calvary  was  selected  for  the  eventful  scene.  On  the  part 
of  God,  appeared  his  only  begotten  Son,  wearing  the  form 
of  a  human  being:  against  him,  came  hell  and  earth  ;  all 
the  nursed  and  ancient  hatred  of  the  human  heart,  and  all 
the  immemorial  enmity  which  had  formed  the  atmosphere 
of  hell,  were  there,  collected  and  concentrated  against  him. 
Love  and  hatred  confronted  each  other.  At  that  moment, 
of  all  the  passions  and  principles  in  the  universe,  these  two 
antagonist  powers  alone  remained.  All  the  diversified 
sentiments  ted  mtrres  \vere  ranged 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  147 

while  the  object  of  the  one  was  to  unite  its  whole  force  in  a 
blow  which  should  need  no  repetition,  to  throw  all  its 
accumulated  vengeance  into  one  annihilating  stroke;  it 
was  the  aim  of  the  other,  by  receiving  that  stroke,  to  let 
the  strength  of  its  foe  be  exhausted,  to  vanquish  it  by  sub- 
mission, to  reduce  it  to  a  state  of  silence  and  shame,  at 
finding  its  powers  and  weapons  all  spent,  while  yet  the 
object  of  its  rage  stood  unimpaired,  and  even  seemed  by 
wounding  to  acquire  strength. 

And  what  was  the  sublime  result?  'Ye  know  the 
grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.'  As  the  demands  of  our 
hatred  increased,  his  love  rose  witlithern  ;  we  aimed  at  his 
heart ;  and  he  promptly  bared  it  to  receive  the  stroke  ;  and, 
behold,  it  was  inscribed  with  the  names  of  his  enemies  :  we 
sought  his  life;  'but,'  said  he,  '  I  lay  it  down  of  myself,' 
'and  he  gave  up  the  ghost;'  so  quick  was  he  in  anticipat- 
ing the  fatal  blow,  that  he  even  forestalled  death  by  the 
speed  with  which  he  voluntarily  surrendered  his  spirit- 
we  demanded  his  blood ;  but  no  sooner  had  his  side  been 
pierced  than  forthwith  came  there  out  blood  and  water — a 
twofold  evidence  of  his  death  ;  if  not  also  a  symbol  of  the 
'twofold  element  of  pardon  and  purity,  and  an  emblem  of 
the  fulness  with  which  the  treasury  of  his  heart  pours 
forth  more  than  we  ask  or  think. 

4.  One  might  have  supposed  that  the  cross  of  Christ,  as 
the  great  illustration  of  divine  grace,  would  have  been  left 
to  stand  alone;    that  even  he,  whose  name  is   Love,  would 
not  have  thought  of  enhancing  its  attractions  by  any  sub- 
sidiary aids.     As  the  focal  point  of  his  divine  benevolen.ce, 
the  cross  of  Christ  is  the  jewel,  of  which  all  the  created 
universe  is  only  the  setting  :   by  what  possible  accompani- 
ments, then,  can  its  attractions  be  enhanced?  He,  who  can 
fchallenge  perfection  for  all  his  works,  whose  minutest  pro- 
'  -    '  ' 


148  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

no  circumstance  to  be  wanting,   which  could  grace  and 
complete  his^masterwork.     By  praying  for  his  execution- 
ers,  and,  still  more,  by  dispensing  salvation  to  the  dying 
malefactor,  he  showed,  that,   while  dying  for  all,  he  was 
distinctly  mindful  of  the  exigencies  of  each.      His  cross 
was  surrounded  by  a  mass  of  the  darkest  elements  of  hu- 
man depravity — a  specimen  of  the  gross,  the  condensed 
impiety  which  in  every  age  would  collect  around  it,  to  de- 
ride, or  to  pray  :  but  it  became  vocal  with  prayer,  and  gave 
forth  an  element  of  spiritual  life;    surrounding  itself  with 
an    element    of    light   and    love    which    none  could   ap- 
proach, without   approaching  at  the  same  time  a  personal 
change.     By  associating  Christ,  in  his  death,  with  the  con- 
demned malefactors,  the  object  of  the  Jews  was  to  add  the 
last  shade  of  disgrace  to  his  holy  name ;    and  had  it  been 
their  aim  to  select  such  as,  besides  being  the  refuse  of  the 
vile,  were  the  least  likely  to  catch  what  they  might  call  the 
infection  of  his  character,  they  could  not  probably  have  se- 
lected two  human  beings  more  proof  against  the  impres- 
sions of  moral  excellence.     By  saving  one  of  these,  there- 
fore, in  the  hour  of  his  own  death,  he  created  the  most  af- 
fecting and  unlooked-for  illustration  of  the  love  of  God  ; 
he   showed  that  whatever  light  might  then  be  suffering 
eclipse,  the  solar  fervor  of  that  love  could  know  no  abate- 
ment; he  caused  to  meet,  in  the  same  moment,  the  crown- 
ing act  of  human  guilt  in  his  own  crucifixion,  and  the 
crowning  act  of  divine  benevolence  in  the  salvation  of  one 
of  the  guiltiest  of  our  race.     He  thus  erected  a  monument, 
in  the  face  of  the  world,  to  the  transcendant  love  of  God; 
a  monument  which,  from  its  position  close  by  the  cross, 
could  not  fail  to  be  seen  by  every  penitent  eye  which  in 
after  times  should  be  pointed  to  the  Lamb  of  God  bearing 
on  it  this  inscription,  'Jesus  Christ  came  into  the  world  to 
/save  sinners;  even  the  chief.' 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  149 

5.  Had  the  history  of  Christ  only  taught  us  that  sin 
may  be  successfully  resisted,  and  the  world  ofercome,  even 
that  would  have  laid  us  under  vast  obligation.  But  having 
assumed  our  nature,  and  espoused  our  cause,  he  looked  on 
our  enemies  as  his  own  ;  he  challenged  and  assailed  them 
in  our  name.  He  laid  not  down  his  life,  till  he  could  say 
of  the  conflict,  It  is  finished;  he  retired  not  from  the  scene 
of  blood,  till  he  could  say  to  his  followers,  'Be  of  good 
cheer,  I  have  overcome.'  His  resurrection  from  the  dead 
rolled  away  the  stone  from  the  tomb  of  human  hope.  Hav- 
ing carried  our  nature  triumphantly  through  all  the  evils 
that  can  assail  it ;  having  collected  at  his  feet  the  chains 
and  weapons  which  were  meant  for  us — all  the  instruments 
and  spoils  of  sin — he  would  have  us  to  know,  that  hence- 
forth we  have  nothing  to  dread  from  our  spiritual  foes ; 
since,  in  the  same  way,  he  will  carry  us  triumphantly 
through  all  the  ranks  of  hell,  and  the  dominions  of  the 
grave,  and  will  bring  us  into  the  rest  that  remaineth  for 
the  people  of  God. 

6.  Subsequent  to  his  resurrection,  the  commission  which 
he  gave  to  his  apostles,  to  publish  '  repentance  and  remis- 
sion of  sins  in  his  name,  among  all  nations,  beginning  at 
Jerusalem?  showed  him  still  inventive  of  new  illustrations 
of  the  divine  love.  It  was  the  act  of  a  most  clement  sove- 
reign, who,  bent  on  convincing  his  rebellious  subjects  of 
the  sincerity  of  his  desire  to  replace  them  in  his  favor? 
should  take  some  of  the  most  traitorous  among  them,  load 
them  with  honors,  instate  them  into  the  highest  offices* 
and  then  send  them  forth  into  the  camp  of  the  revolted  to 
proclaim  his  grace  to  the  chief  of  the  disaffected,  and  bear- 
ing in  their  hands  an  act  of  amnesty  for  all.  '  Ye  have 
not  chosen  me  ;  but  I  have  chosen  you,  and  ordained  you, 
that  ye  should  go  and  bring  forth  fruit.'  They  had  lived 
in  the  closest  alliance  with  those  who  had  not  only  said, 
4  Come  let  us  kill  him  ;'  but  who  had  actually  perpetrated 


150  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

his  death  with  acclamation,  as  a  deed  essential  to  their  hap- 
piness. But  having  reclaimed  them  from  their  disobedi- 
ence, and  engaged  their  hearts,  he  took  them  into  his  coun- 
sels, heaped  on  them  his  royal  favors,  shared  with  them  his 
prerogatives,  gave  them  a  joint  interest  with  himself  in  the 
success  of  all  his  designs  of  grace,  and  then  sent  them 
forth  to  his  foes  with  this  injunction— that  they  should  first 
visit  the  men  who  had  slain  him — should  let  it  be  seen 
how  affluent  he  had  made  them  in  heavenly  gifts,  how  un- 
limited the  access  they  enjoyed  to  his  divine  treasury  ;  at 
the  same  time  exhibiting  their  commission,  and  inviting  all 
to  a  community  with  themselves  of  these  special  privileges 
and  grace. 

7.  The  most  affectionate  parent  can  only  endow  his 
child  with  the  accidents  of  fortune,  and  operate  on  him  by 
the  uncertain  influence  of  education  and  example.  How- 
ever wise  and  virtuous  he  may  be  himself;  and  however 
he  may  yearn  to  share  his  piety  with  his  beloved  child,  a 
communication  of  character  is  a  transferrence  which  he 
cannot  make.  Every  thing  else  he  may  succeed  in  im- 
parting, but  here  he  has  no  prerogative.  Christ  not  only 
gave  himself  for,  but  to,  his  disciples.  '  He  breathed  on 
them,  and  saith  unto  them,  Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost.' 
By  this  emblematic  act,  he  signified,  not  merely  the  impar- 
tation  of  miraculous  powers,  but  the  inspiration  of  his 
sanctifying  spirit,  the  vital  transfusion  of  his  own  self,  into 
the  souls  of  his  people.  He  would  have  them  to  know, 
that  henceforth,  he  and  they  can  no  more  live  a  divided 
life;  that  he  will  live  through  their  faculties,  and  act 
through  their  organs;  and  that  they  must  choose  with  his 
will,  and  act  \vith  his  spirit :  that  it  may  be  no  more  they 
that  live,  but  he  that  liveth  in  them.  But,  in  all  this,  he 
would  impress  them  with  the  fact — that  he  is  only  giving 
to  them  the  glory  which  the  Father  had  given  him,  that 
both  he  and  they  might  be  one  in  God. 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  151 

8.  An  original  and  important  part  of  the  Saviour's  teach- 
ing concerning  himself,  is  that  which  relates  to  his  office  of 
intercession.     Perhaps  no  part   of  the  Jewish  ceremonial 
was  more  impressive,   or  calculated  to  fill  the  imagination 
than  the  scene  in  which  the  High  Priest  passed  within  the 
veil  on  the  great  day  of  atonement.     Every  attendant  cir- 
cumstance— the  inviolable  sanctity  of  the  veil  which  the 
people  dared  not  to  approach,  nor  even  the  priests  to  touch, 
the  fact  that  only  one  man  of  all  the   human  race  was  per- 
mitted to  lift  that  veil,   and  pass  within — the  rareness   of 
that  occurrence — for  to  him  it  was  accessible  only  once  a 
year — and  the  awful  Being,  the  ineffable  mystery,  that  re- 
sided there — all  conspired  to  fill  the   mind  with  emotions 
of  the  profoundest  awe.     On  the  morning  of  the  appointed 
day,  what  must  his  feelings  have  been,  when,  having  pre- 
sented the  sin-offerings  for  himself  and  the  people,  he  took 
the  blood  of  the  sacrifice,  and  the  incense,  and,  followed  by 
the  anxious  eyes  of  the  breathless  congregation,  he  pro- 
ceeded towards  the  awful  recess — when  he  reflected  that 
every  step  took  him  nearer  to  the  visible  presence  of  the  in- 
comprehensible God — when  he  lifted  up  the  veil  with  fear 
and  trembling — when  the  veil  closed  on  him,  and  left  him 
alone  with  God — when  his  eye  glanced  at  the  mercy-seat, 
and  saw  the  glory  resting  on  it — when  he  advanced  up  to 
it,  and  instantly  began  to  wave  the  incense  before  it,  that  it 
might  forthwith  be  enveloped  in    a  cloud,  lest  he  should 
gaze  on  it,  and  perish — when  he  sprinkled  the  ark  with  the 
blood  which  he  had  brought  in,  and  remembered  the  puri- 
ty of  the  Being  who  commanded  it,  and  the  sinfulness  of 
the  beings  which  rendered  it  necessary — what  a  responsi- 
ble office,  at  that  moment,  he  filled  !  and  what  vivid,  sol- 
emn, and  lasting  impressions   must  the  scene  have  left  on 
every  thoughtful  worshipper ! 

This  must  have  been  true,  even  of  that  large  majority 


152  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

whose  views  terminated  on  the  passing  ceremony,  and  who 
did '  not  look  unto  the  end  of  that  which  is  abolished.' 
But  how  much  more  affecting  must  it  have  been  to  those 
who  remembered  that  the  scense  they  beheld  '  was  only  a 
figure  for  the  time  then  present :'  and  that  solemn  as  it 
Avas,  it  would  eventually  give  place  to  a  reality  inconceiv- 
ably more  glorious.  Let  any  one  make  the  mental  effort 
of  transporting  himself  back  into  their  circumstances,  and 
he  will  find  how  impossible  it  was  for  the  believers  of  that 
economy  to  conceive  what  the  substance  of  that  shadow, 
the  reality  of  that  figure  was  likely  to  be ;  and  he  may 
also  apprehend  how  much  more  impressive  the  sign  must 
have  been,  from  the  very  circumstance  of  their  inability  to 
decipher  it.  Doubtless,  'they  searched  diligently,'  and 
pondered  deeply,  the  meaning  of  the  enigma;  and  numer- 
ous and  splendid  may  have  been  their  conjectures  of  what 
would  possibly  be  the  reality.  Of  that  reality  it  is  our 
privilege  to  have  been  informed;  and  so  stupendous  is  its 
nature,  that  we  feel  assured,  the  sublimest  preconceptions 
of  man  could  not  have  come  within  an  infinite  distance  of 
it.  '  We  have  a  great  High  Priest  who  is  passed  into  the 
heavens,  Jesus  the  Son  of  God.'  '  Christ  is  not  entered 
into  the  holy  places  made  with  hands,  but  into  heaven  it- 
self, now  to  appear  in  the  presence  of  God  for  us.'  *  By 
his  own  blood,  he  entered  in  once  into  the  holy  place,  hav- 
ing obtained  eternal  redemption  for  us.' 

The  most  copious  account,  indeed,  of  his  divine  interces- 
sion is  to  be  found  in  the  inspired  epistles ;  but  the  an- 
nouncement of  the  doctrine  came  originally  and  directly 
from  his  own  lips.  '  /  will  pray  the  Father?  said  he,  '  and 
he  shall  give  you  another  Comforter,  that  he  may  abide 
with  you  for  ever.'  Concerning  the  mode  of  his  interces- 
sion in  heaven,  it  would  not  be  relevant  here  to  enlarge. 
But,  unless  the  whole  doctrine  be  a  mere  fiction  of  mercy,, 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  153 

(an  idea  at  which  every  feeling  of  piety  revolts,)  the  first 
appearance  of  Jesus  there,  in  his  new  capacity,  must  have 
been  as  invigorating  to  the  worship  of  heaven,  as  it  is  en- 
couraging to  the  devotions  of  believers  on  earth.  When 
he  went  from  the  place  of  sacrifice,  and  stood  in  the  pres- 
ence of  God  for  us ;  when  he  arrived  there,  to  find  that 
the  incense  of  his  offering  had  preceded  him,  and  had  filled 
the  entire  temple  with  its  odours ;  that,  as  if  impatient  for 
his  arrival,  his  throne  was  prepared,  the  hosts  and  orders 
of  heaven  marshalled  for  his  reception,  the  splendid  ranks 
and  hierarchies  destined  for  his  future  state  and  retinue 
waiting  to  do  him  homage ;  and  even  the  eternal  Father 
himself,  waiting  with  this  grant  of  the  world,  this  burst  of 
infinite  love  on  his  lips,  *  Ask  of  me,  and  I  will  give  thee 
the  heathen  for  thine  inheritance  and  the  uttermost  parts  of 
the  earth  for  thy  possession ;'  from  that  triumphant  mo- 
ment in  the  history  of  grace,  the  services  of  heaven  must 
have  proceeded  with  new  vigor,  and  every  worshipper 
there  have  become  conscious  of  a  fresh  motive,  a  crowning 
incentive  to  obedience. 

But,  however  this  may  be,  all  the  encouragement  which 
the  intercession  of  Christ,  as  revealed  in  scripture,  is  cal- 
culated to  afford,  is  intended  to  descend  and  alight  in  the 
heart  of  the  earthly  suppliant  as  he  bends  at  the  footstool 
of  mercy.  And  what  richer  encouragement  could  the 
avarice  of  human  fear,  or  our  guilty  unbelief,  desire? 
What  stronger  warrant  for  coming  boldly  to  the  throne 
of  grace  could  God  himself  supply  ?  A  faint  illustration 
of  this  may  be  drawn  from  that  part  of  the  former  econo- 
my, to  which  allusion  has  already  been  made — the  feast 
of  atonement.  Suppose,  among  the  thousands  that  came 
up  to  Jerusalem  at  that  annual  solemnity,  a  penitent  Israel* 
ite  entered  the  temple  with  fear  and  trembling.  Like  the 
publican  that  went  up  to  the  temple  to  pray,  he  is  burderu 


154  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

ed  with  a  sense  of  enormous  guilt;  he  durst  not  lift  up  so 
much  as  his  eyes  to  heaven  ;  he  smites  upon  his  breast ; 
he  would  fain  entreat  for  mercy,  but  he  dreads  lest,  by  doing 
so,  he  should  be  chargeable  with  presumption.  Now, 
when  the  High  Priest  went  within  the  veil,  how  powerful- 
ly might  this  dejected  and  desponding  penitent  have  been 
urged  and  entreated  to  lift  up  his  voice  to  God  for  mercy. 
'  It  is  true,  you  are  a  sinner  ;'  a  -pious  friend  might  have 
said  to  him  ;  '  you  cannot  over-rate  the  awful  aggravation 
of  your  guilt;  but  then  do  not  under-rate  the  mercy  of 
God  through  an  atonement.  Has  he  not  promised  that, 
for  the  sake  of  a  propitiatory  sacrifice,  he  will  certainly  for- 
give our  nation  their  iniquities  ?  and  are  not  you  one  of 
the  nation  ?  and  is  not  our  High  Priest  now  within  the  veil 
offering  the  blood  of  atonement  ?  0  then  now,  now  while  he 
is  there  pleading  in  our  behalf;  now  while  God  is  in  the 
act  of  Accepting  the  offering ;  now  ask  for  remission  ;  and 
as  far  as  the  east  is  from  the  \vest,  so  far  will  he  remove 
your  transgressions  from  you.'  What  an  encouragement 
was  this  to  pray !  The  application  of  all  this  is  obvious. 
Suppose  the  intercession  of  Christ  were  at  present  un- 
known to  you,  unknown  to  the  world.  You  have,  let  it  be 
supposed,  just  emerged  from  the  darkness  of  sin,  into  the 
light  of  truth.  For  the  first  time,  you  have  caught  a 
glimpse  of  your  true  condition  as  a  transgressor  against 
God.  You  feel  that  you  are  barely  out  of  hell:  your  con- 
science, unused  and  strange  to  its  office,  labors  to  dis- 
charge in  a  moment,  the  accumulated  duty  of  years;  re- 
peats and  even  exasperates  the  accents  of  the  violated  law ; 
surrounds  itself  with  an  atmosphere  as  terrible  as  that  of 
Sinai.  But  though  God  is  the  Being  whose  awful  justice 
you  have  armed  against  you,  his  mercy  you  must  sue  for, 
and  obtain,  or  perish.  It  is  in  vain  for  you  to  think  of  com- 
pensation, to  plead  your  penitence,  to  promise  amendment  i 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  155 

you  cannot  in  this  way  appease  his  wrath  :  you  must  cast 
yourself  on  his  free  mercy,  or  perish.  Do  not  think  of  ex- 
cusing yourself  from  this  act,  by  pleading  that  it  would  be 
presumption,  an  aggravation  of  your  guilt,  an  invitation  to 
ruin  ;  even  if  this  were  true,  it  is  also  true  that  to  neglect 
it  is  destruction.  If  a  single  ray  of  hope  be  left  you,  it 
must  come  direct  from  the  throne  of  God. 

From  what  quarter  then  shall  we  draw  the  encourage- 
ment which  shall  embolden  you  to  approach  the  mercy- 
seat  ?  What  is  the  condition  on  which  you  would  consent 
to  go  at  any  given  hour  to-day  or  to-morrow,  and  fall  down 
before  God  in  prayer?  Would  you  promise  to  do  this  ; 
could  you  be  assured  that  at  the  moment  when  you  were 
calling  upon  God  for  mercy,  you  should  be  accompanied 
by  the  earnest  intercessions  of  your  family,  and  of  all  your 
friends  in  your  behalf?  You  have  heard,  that  '  the  effec- 
tual fervent  prayer  of  a  righteous  man  availeth  much  ;' 
that  the  intercession  of  Abraham  suspended,  for  a  time,  the 
descending  fire  which  destroyed  Sodom ;  that,  could  ten 
righteous  men  have  been  found  there,  God  would  for  their 
sakes,  have  recalled  the  sentence  which  had  gone  out  against 
it ; — now  would  you  deem  it  a  sufficient  encouragement  to 
go  before  God,  could  we  guarantee  that,  at  the  time  you 
prayed,  every  righteous  man  every  believer  in  the  kingdom 
should  enter  into  his  closet,  and  earnestly  supplicate  God 
for  you  ?  Or,  beyond  this,  could  we  assemble  together,  in 
your  behalf,  a  solemn  convocation  of  all  the  Christian 
churches  upon  earth:  could  we  bring  all  flesh  before  God; 
could  we  undertake  to  engage  for  you  all  the  power  of 
prayer  which  at  present  exists  upon  earth;  and  carrying 
the  supposition  out  to  the  utmost,  could  we  even  ensure  to 
you  the  mightier  supplications  of  the  church  above,  of  all 
its  thrones,  dominions,  principalities,  powers,  and  orders  of 
saints ;  were  all  the  created  universe  to  obtain  a  special  air 


156  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

dience  of  God  at  the  same  time,  and  to  surround  his  throne 
together,  for  the  sole  object  of  entreating  him  in  your  behalf, 
could  you  doubt  of  your  success?  If  he  speaks  of  the 
combined  intercession  of  '  Noah,  Daniel,  and  Job,'  as  all 
but  omnipotent,  could  you  question  the  efficacy  of  your  en- 
treaties, if  you  knew  them  to  be  thus  seconded  and  urged 
by  the  combined  importunity  of  all  creation  in  prayer  ? 
But  what  if,  at  the  very  moment  of  audience,  when  the  vio- 
lent were  taking  heaven  for  you  by  force :  what  if  then 
you  should  behold  the  Saviour  himself  come  forth,  and 
stand  at  the  altar  of  incense,  having  in  his  hand  the  golden 
censer  ;  and  what  if  you  should  hear  him  announce,  «I  will 
pray  the  Father  for  you.'  O  what  a  day  of  hope  would 
instantly  arise  upon  your  soul !  would  you  not  at  once  be 
shamed  out  of  all  your  fears  and  unbelief  ?  would  you  not 
feel  that,  having  him  for  an  advocate,  you  could  dispense 
with  all  inferior  aid  ?  that  your  suit  was  as  good  as  gained  ? 
So  far  from  doubting  or  dreading  the  issue  of  your  pray- 
ers, you  would  henceforth  feel  that  the  footstool  of  mercy 
was  the  only  place  of  safety  and  of  hope ;  that  if  danger 
impended,  yet  there  he  stood  between  you  and  it  ;  that  if 
mercy  gushed  forth,  he  stood  there  as  the  medium  to  re- 
ceive and  pour  it  into  your  soul :  that,  in  his  hands,  your 
sacrifice  received  an  infinite  accession  of  worth  and  your 
entreaties,  if  at  all  augmented  in  power,  were  augmented  to 
omnipotence.  But  you  need  no  vision  to  certify  the  sub- 
stantial truth  of  this  representation.  If  there  be  any  ve- 
racity in  the  word  of  God,  there  can  be  no  more  credible 
fact  than  this — that  Jesus  ever  liveth  to  make  intercession 
for  us.  You  are  warranted  to  imagine  and  paint  the  vis- 
ion to  your  faith;  to  believe  that  you  no  sooner  approach 
the  seat  of  mercy,  than  you  become  the  client  of  the  great 
Advocate  ;  that,  on  the  first  utterance  of  your  penitence,  he 
espouses  your  cause,  makes  it  his  own,  and  presents  your 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  15 

supplication  before  the  throne  as  his  own  desire.     Can  you 
doubt  or  delay  to  draw  near  to  God  after  this  ? 

9.     It  is  observable  that  our  Lord  encourages  the  devo. 
tion  of  his  disciples,  by  placing  the  virtue  of  his  mediation 
ina  striking  variety  of  lights.     In   uttering  the  language 
already  quoted,  he  pledges  himself  to  the  office  of  their  PER- 
SONAL INTERCESSOR  ;  '  I  will  pray  the  Father  for  you.7 
He  who  could  not  see  them  exposed  to  destruction  without 
pouring  out  his  life  to  save  them,  could  not  behold  them 
prostrate  at  the   throne  of  grace,  as  trembling  suppliants, 
without  raising  them  up  and  becoming  their  advocate.     He, 
who  has  created   for  them  an  infinite  fund  of  merit,  could 
not  fail  to  employ  it  in  the  way  most  eminently  conducive 
to  their  advantage :  causing  it  to  ascend  in  their  behalf,  as 
a  memorial  before  God,  at  the  moment  of  their  entreaties 
for  mercy.     It  is  to  be  borne  in  mind,  that  wrhile  on  earth, 
he  did  nothing  for  himself.     Having  graciously  engaged 
to  be  our  substitute,   whatever  he  did,  he  did  solely  for  his 
people.     What  then  has  become  of  the  inexhaustible  fund 
of  obedience   accruing   from   his    obedience  unto   death? 
How  is  the  infinite  treasure   employed?  Where  is   it  de- 
posited ?      By   proclaiming   himself  our   Intercessor,    he 
would  have  us  to  know  that  the  entire  merit  of  all  he  did 
is  contained  as  incense  in  his  golden  censer,  that  he  might 
offer  it   up  with  the  prayers  of  his  people.     Our    prayers 
then,    in  their  ascent   to  the   throne  of  God,  mingle   and 
blend  with  the  ascending  incense  of  his  merit.     Our  voice 
before  it  reaches  the  ear  of  God,  falls  in  and  blends  with, 
the  voice  of  him,   whom   the  Father  heareth  always.     So 
that,  in  pledging  himself  to  intercede  in  our  behalf,  he  is, 
in  effect,  assuring  us  of  the  certainty  of  our  success. 

10.  Another  encouragement  to  prayer,  which  he  derives 
for  us  from  his  mediatorial  influence,  is  the  use  which  he 
allows  us  to  make  cf  his  name.  '  Ask,'  saith  he,  '  in  my 


158  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

name}  Were  we  about  to  become  suppliants  to  an  earth- 
ly benefactor,  it  would  be  important  to  ascertain  the  plea 
most  likely  to  dispose  him  to  accede  to  our  request.  For 
there  is  always  one  argument  which  affects  an  individual, 
and  gives  us  the  key  to  his  heart  more .effectually  than  all 
others.  How  important  is  it  then  that  we,  who  are  daily 
suppliants  to  God  for  blessings  on  which  our  salvation  de- 
pends, should  be  acquainted  with  that  plea  which  he  most 
delights  to  honor.  Now  the  plea  most  prevalent  with  him 
is  beyond  all  comparison,  the  name  of  Jesus.  It  is  the 
name  of  his  only  begotten  Son.  It  is  the  name  which  he 
has  solemnly  pledged  himself  to  honor.  It  is  the  name 
which  he  himself  has  conferred  in  token  of  his  infinite 
complacency  and  satisfaction.  It  is  the  name  which  he 
has  indissolubly  bound  up  with  his  own  character  and 
perfections,  so  that  he  cannot  disregard  it  without  dishonor- 
ing his  own  name.  Employ  any  other  name,  as  a  plea  at 
the  throne  of  grace,  and  you  insult  the  majesty  of  heaven, 
But  employ  his  name,  and  your  instantly  attract  the  com- 
placent attention  of  the  almighty  Father,  and  obtain  access 
to  the  treasures  of  his  grace. 

'  Hitherto,'  said  Christ,  'have  ye  asked  nothing  in  my 
name.1  Up  to  that  moment,  in  the  history  of  the  church, 
devotion  had  been  ignorant  of  its  real  strength  ;  unacquaint- 
ed with  the  extent  of  its  resources  and  power.  Relying 
simply  on  the  promises  of  God,  it  was  content  to  present 
its  supplications,  ignorant  of  the  ground  on  which  they 
were  heard  ;  and  often,  sighing  in  the  paroxysms  of  con- 
scious guilt,  for  a  days-man  and  intercessor.  But  Jesus 
explained  the  rationale  of  devotion ;  laid  open  the  secret 
of  our  success  ;  and  thus  enabled  it  to  feel  the  power  which 
it  has  with  God,  the  purchase  it  has  on  the  eternal  throne. 
*  Verilv.  yerily.  I  say  unto  yon  Whatsoever  13  ^k 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  159 

4  When  you  go  to  the  door  of  mercy,  and  knock,  make  use 
of  my  name  and  ye  shall  gain  admission  ;  make  it  known 
that  y^u  belong  to  me,  and  my  Father  will  treat  you  as  be- 
longing to  him ;  make  it  known  that  there  is  a  mutual  af- 
fection, a  close  and  indissoluble  friendship  subsisting  be- 
tween us,  and  my  Father  will  take  you  into  his  favor,  to 
his  heart;  tell  him  that  my  name  is  dear  to  you,  and  it 
will  endear  you  to  him  ;  so  endear  you,  that  ask  what  you 
will,  the  forgiveness  of  your  sins, adoption  into  his  family, 
the  sanetification  of  your  nature,  the  riches  of  his  grace, 
all,  all,  he  will  give  it  you  ;  I  am  so  beloved  by  him,  that 
for  my  sake  he  will  refuse  you  nothing.' 

We  ourselves  are  accustomed  to  act  kindly  towards  a 
person,  though  he  be  a  stranger  to  us,  provided  he  can 
show  us  that  he  is  related  to  one  whom  we  love  ;  in  show- 
ing him  kindness,  we  feel  that  wre  are  evincing  our  affec- 
tion for  the  friend  who  sent  him.  The  Father  demonstrates 
his  infinite  love  to  Christ,  by  receiving  and  welcoming  the 
friends  of  Christ  as  his  own  friends.  He  has  pledged 
himself  to  do  so;  and  he  is  so  complacently  delighted  with 
Christ;  so  fully  satisfied  with  the  atonement  he  has  made; 
feels  himself  so  unspeakably  glorified  by  the  incarnation 
and  life,  the  death  and  mediation  of  Christ;  by  all  that  he 
has  done  for  the  honor  of  the  divine  government  and  the 
salvation  of  man,  that,  if  I  may  say  so,  he  has  thrown 
open  his  heart  and  his  heaven  to  all  the  friends  of  Christ. 
They  come  to  his  throne ;  and  on  the  intercession  of 
Christ  in  their  behalf,  the  Father  lays  open  all  the  treas- 
ures of  his  grace  for  their  appropriation  and  use.  *  Yea,7 
saith  Christ,  '  ask  in  my  name,  and  I  do  not  say  that  I  will 
pray  the  Father  for  you ;  for  the  Father  himself  loveth 
you  because  ye  have  loved  me.'  '  Make  use  of  my  name, 
and  that  will  suffice  ;  my  name  alone,  without  any  entrea- 


160  T'H  E       GREAT       TEACHER. 

heart,  and  to  all  the  riches  of  his  grace.'  '  Wherefore,  ask 
and  receive,  that  your  joy  may  be  full.' 

Now  what  a  vast  acquisition  was  this  to  the  wealth  of 
devotion;  it  was  supplying  it  with  a  key  to  the  divine 
treasury,  and  placing  it  in  a  position,  in  reference  to  the 
throne  of  grace,  which  gave  to  it  an  omnipotent  influence 
with  him  who  sitteth  thereon.  What  a  prodigious  advance 
was  it,  in  one  sense,  even  on  the  promise  of  his  personal 
intercession  !  By  empowering  his  people  to  employ  the 
argument  of  his  name,  he  is,  in  so  far,  placing  the  fund  of 
his  merit  at  their  disposal ;  affording  them  the  profound 
satisfaction  of  bringing  it  into  the  presence  of  God,  and 
using  for  themselves  the  very  same  plea  which  he  employs 
for  them  ;  he  is  in  effect  pleading  for  them  by  their  own 
lips  as  well  as  with  his  own,  and  thus  multiplying  the 
voice  and  power  of  his  intercession.  By  investing  them 
with  this  privilege,  he  is  virtually  clothing  them  with 
priestly  vestments,  placing  them  by  his  side  at  the  altar, 
and  putting  into  their  hands  a  censer  filled  with  incense 
like  his  own. 

11.  But  further,  with  a  view  to  promote  the  devotion  of 
his  disciples,  he.  distinctly  e?igages  to  answer  their  suppli- 
cations. '  Whatsoever  ye  shall  ask  in  my  name,  that  will 
I  do,  that  the  Father  may  be  glorified  in  the  son.  If  ye 
shall  ask  any  thing  in  my  name,  I  will  do  it.  That  the 
same  being  should  undertake,  both  to  present  and  to  an- 
swer their  petitions,  both  to  intercede  for  them  and  to  con- 
fer the  blessings  sought,  may  appear  incompatible:  but 
the  offices,  though  distinct,  are  perfectly  reconcileable.  In 
his  conduct  at  the  altar  we  behold  the  Intercessor,  and  in 
his  conduct  on  the  throne  we  behold  the  result  and  reward 
of  his  intercession  ;  having  become  the  medium  of  prayer 
from  man  to  God,  he  is  rewarded  by  being  made  the  me- 
dium of  blessiffg  from  God  to  man  ;  the  Intercessor  for 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  161 

human  penury,  is  constituted  the  Almoner  of  infinite  boun- 
ty: he  is  called  from  the  altar  of  incense,  to  ascend  and 
dispense  from  the  throne  of  God,  the  blessings  which  he 
has  sought  for  us. 

However  various  the  lights  then  in  which  we  behold  the 
virtues  of  our  Lord's  mediation,  it  is  evident  that  one  prin- 
ciple explains,  harmonizes,  and  encompasses  the  whole — 
the  love  of  God  ;  that  they  all  subserve  the  grand  aim  of 
which  we  have  been  speaking — the  manifestation  of  the 
divine  character  for  human  encouragement  and  salvation. 
To  regard  the  institution  of  the  intercessory  office,  as  ne- 
cessary to  give  us  success  with  God,  is  an  injustice  to  his 
beneficence,  and  a  misapprehension  of  the  whole  economy. 
'  At  that  day,'  saith  Christ,  *  ye  shall  ask  me  nothing:  for 
the  Father  himself  loveth  you.  And  whatsoever  ye  shall 
ask  in  my  name,  that  will  I  do,  that  the,  Father  may  be 
glorified  in  the  Son.'  Till  our  fears  are  allayed,  and  our 
•distrust  removed,  the  love  of  God  does  not  cease  to  heap 
up  its  gifts,  and  to  multiply  its  grants  and  appointments. 
On  this  principle  it  is,  that  the  throne  of  grace,  though  in 
itself  ineffably  attractive  as  occupied  by  infinite  love,  is 
made  additionally  attractive  by  the  appointment  and  pres- 
ence of  a  benignant  Intercessor:  as  if  God  did  not  deem 
its  attractions  complete  while  only  invested  with  the  might 
of  his  own  love,  he  has  placed  at  the  altar  before  it  an  Ad- 
vocate clothed  in  our  own  nature.  On  our  way  to  the  seat 
of  mercy  our  Intercessor  assures  us,  and  asks  us  to  receive 
the  assurance  as  the  only  correct  interpretation  of  his  of- 
fice, that  if  he  accompanies  and  introduces  us  to  God,  it  is 
not  because  God  requires  it  for  himself,  but  for  us;  that 
the  design  of  his  intercession  is,  not  to  excite,  but  to  satisfy 
the  love  of  the  Father — by  granting  this  last  favor  to  our 
fears.  There  is  a  spot  in  the  universe  where  centres  all 
dignity,  authority,  and  power — the  focus  of  glory — that 
10 


162  THE      GREAT       TEACHER. 

spot  is  at  the  right  hand  of  Deity;  and  Jesus  assures  us 
that  he  himself  is  its  sole  occupant  in  the  capacity  of  our 
Intercessor.  Yes,  he  who  might  have  been  placing  a  vial 
of  wrath  in  the  hand  of  every  angel  around  his  throne, 
with  a  commission  to  pour  it  out  on  this  rebellious  world 
till  it  was  utterly  consumed,  is  standing  at  this  moment  at 
the  altar  of  incense,  presenting  our  prayers  for  mercy,  and 
officiating  there  as  our  great  high  priest. 

'Who  then  is  he  that  condemneth  ?  it  is  Christ  that 
died :  yea,  rather,  that  is  risen  again  ;  who  is  even  at  the 
right  hand  of  God  ;  who  also  maketh  intercession  for  us  ! 
This  is  an  argument  not  to  be  refuted,  a  climax  to  which 
nothing  can  be  added ;  leading  us  upward,  step  by  step,  it 
conducts  us  to  a  summit  where  all  is  unclouded  and  serene, 
and  where  we  can  breathe  the  air  of  security  and  triumph. 
While  standing  on  this  elevation,  by  the  side  of  our  Inter- 
cessor, and  in  the  light  of  the  throne  of  God,  we  feel  that 
no  foe  can  approach,  no  enemy  impeach  us,  that  the  uni- 
verse is  at  peace  with  us. 

How  richly  is  Jesus  entitled  to  be  called  the  Wonder- 
ful !  The  view  indeed  which  has  now  been  taken  of  his 
office  and  excellence,  is  hasty  and  defective  ;  had  it  been 
much  less  unworthy  than  it  is,  it  would  still  have  fallen  in- 
finitely short  of  the  grandeur  of  the  subject ;  for  we  are 
dilating  on  a  theme  on  which  it  is  a  joy  to  reflect  that  per- 
fection is  unattainable.  But  crude  and  imperfect  as  our 
remarks  are,  they  will  have  answered  an  important  end, 
if  they  have  enabled  us  to  feel  this;  if  they  have  made  us 
sensible  that  we  are  engaged  on  a  theme,  which  we  must 
have  eternity  to  celebrate  and  comprehend.  He  has  shown 
us  that  even  the  mysteries  of  the  Godhead  admit  of  in- 
crease ;  for  he  has  added  to  them  the  peculiarities  of  hu- 
manity, and  adopted  the  sum  of  them  all  into  his  own  per- 
son. Besides  the  predicates  which  are  true  of  him  as  God, 


HIS        ORIGINALITY.  163 

and  those  which  are  true  of  him  as  man,  by  combining 
divinity  and  humanity  together,  he  has  created,  if  I  may 
say  so,  a  third  class  of  truths  which  can  be  predicated  of 
him,  and  of  him  alone:  and  on  these,  as  they  relate  to  his 
mediatorial  office,  hangs  the  hope  of  the  perishing  world. 

None,  before  his  advent,  had  ever  succeeded  in  drawing 
the  character  of  a  perfect  man  ;  he  not  merely  described 
but  exhibited  a  specimen  of  perfect  humanity  conjoined 
with  Deity ;  and  while  he  preserved  the  characteristics  of 
each  nature  distinct,  he  showed  what  God  is,  and  what 
man  should  be;  became  the  representative  of  God  and  the 
exemplar  of  men.  He  erected  a  new  order  of  greatness ; 
of  which  the  laws,  conditions  and  results — the  whole  arch- 
etype— were  peculiarly  his  own.  He  gave  a  new  economy 
to  the  divine  government,  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  a 
new  dispensation,  the  object  of  which  was  to  reconcile  the 
prerogatives  of  justice  and  compassion  ;  and  to  do  this,  not 
by  compromising  either,  but  by  honoring  both ;  by  ena- 
bling mercy  to  punish  without  impairing  its  clemency  or  its 
claims  to  our  love ;  and  enabling  justice  to  forgive,  without 
sacrificing  its  purity,  or  its  claims  on  our  awful  regards. 
The  rights  of  justice,  and  the  condition  of  sinful  man,  were 
essentially  hostile:  they  had  diverged  to  an  infinite  re- 
moteness, and  stood  frowning  at  each  other,  as  from  oppo- 
site sides  of  the  universe.  He  laid  hold  on  the  nature  of 
man :  and  planting  his  cross  midway,  created  a  point  of 
attraction  which  reached  and  drew  them  across  the  sepa- 
rating gulph,  back  to  itself,  as  to  a  common  centre.  Jus- 
tice moved  from  its  high  and  awful  position  on  Sinai ;  and, 
with  all  the  armies  of  holiness,  brightening  and  still 
brightening  with  complacency  as  it  approached,  bowed 
with  reverence  at  the  cross,  and  said,  '  It  is  enough.'  The 
sinner,  detached  by  the  same  magnetic  power  from  the 
strong  confederacy  of  sin,  approaches,  relents,  and  changes, 


164  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

as  he  draws  near,  till  he  falls  prostrate  before  the  cross,  a 
new  creation  in  Christ  Jesus.  By  giving  his  heart  to  sin- 
ners, and  for  them,  holiness  finds  that  it  has  nothing  to 
ask,  nothing  to  do  ;  only  to  raise  the  sinner  from  the  dust, 
and  to  become  the  guardian  of  his  new  life  :  the  sinner 
finds  that  nothing  is  left  him  to  desire,  except  that  he  may 
never  wander  from  the  sight  of  that  dross  which  has  made 
him  the  ward  of  infinite  holiness,  and  is  preparing  him 
for  heaven.  Here  God  erects  his  throne,  and  man  adores  ; 
to  each  the  cross  is  ineffably  precious;  for  it  is  only  in  its 
immediate  presence  that  sin  can  be  vanquished,  and  yet 
the  sinner  be  saved. 

While  this  amazing  consummation  was  in  actual  pro- 
cess, the  character  of  Christ  evolved  an  amount  of  excel- 
lence which  might  have  made  angelic  natures,  if  capable 
of  the  feeling,  jealous  of  the  rivalry  and  riches  of  earth. 
The  eternal  Father  himself  beheld  in  it  more  than  an  in- 
demnity for  human  transgression  :  never  before  had  he 
contemplated  a  work  in  which  his  holiness  appeared  so 
pure,  his  mercy  so  amiable,  his  wisdom  so  profound ;  he 
saw  in  it  the  stability  of  all  law,  the  recovery  of  man,  an 
infinite  augmentation  of  the  splendor  which  surrounds  his 
throne,  an  amount  of  objective  glory  such  as  he  had  never 
before  beheld  out  of,  and  apart  from  himself.  And  as  if 
this  new  relation  and  aspect  of  the  divine  nature  had  been 
an  experiment,  the  result  of  which  more  than  answered  to 
his  great  idea ;  as  if  the  advent  of  Christ  surpassed  the 
divine  expectation,  the  sublime  phenomena  which  it  dis- 
played, called  forth  audible  and  delighted  expressions  of 
paternal  complacency  and  love ;  the  radiance  of  the  divine 
countenance  fell  full  upon  them. 

The  dedication  of  the  Jewish  temple  was  an  epoch  in 
the  history  of  the  earth.  All  Israel  was  assembled  on  the 
occasion :  and  had  man  done  justice  to  the  event,  all  the 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  165 

world  would  have  flocked  and  kept  festival ;  for  what  did 
it  signify  but   that  the  great  God  himself  was  become  a 
dweller  with   man  upon  the  earth.     But  the  dedication  of 
Christ  was  worthy  to  be  a  day  of  jubilee  to  the  universe. 
Here  human  instrumentality  was  dispensed  with,  as  un- 
worthy the  greatness  of  the  occasion  ;  nothing  lower  than 
angelic  agency  was  employed ;   the  arrangement  and  pro- 
cess was  wholly  divine.     His  only  human  herald  was  di- 
rected to  announce,  '  him  hath  God  the    Father  sealed  ; — 
he  needs  no  human  induction  or  testimony  ;  he  enters  on 
his  office  sealed   and  signalized  with  all  the  marks  of  di- 
vinity upon  him.'     He  proclaimed  himself,  as  'him  whom 
the  Father  hath  sanctified,  and  sent  into  the  world.'     The 
splendid    scene  at   his  baptismal    inauguration,  when  the 
heavens  were  opened,  and  the  Spirit  descended  upon  him 
was  only  the  after  imitation,  the  faint  repetition  of  a  scene 
in  heaven,  in  which  the  eternal  Father,  passing  by  all  the 
hosts  and  hierarchies  of  heaven,  had  elected  and  devoted 
him  to  the  office  of  his  divine  representative  and  our  medi- 
ator: a  scene,    of  which   all  the   thrones,  and  dominions, 
and  principalities  of  heaven,  stood   around,  the  awed  and 
admiring   spectators ;  and  in  which    the  only  share  they 
took,  was  reverently  and  joyfully   to  worship  him.     God 
of  eternal  glory !  thou   thyself  wast  never  so  glorious  in 
thine  own  eyes  as  at  that  moment,  never  so  great  in  the 
eyes  of  thy  creatures!     Could  thine  unbeginning  and  un- 
ending existence  admit  of   dates,  surely  that  would  stand 
out  as  an  era  in  thine  eternal  round  of  years.     Never  was 
the  ocean  of  thy  love  stirred    so  completely  to  its  depths. 
Never  didst  thou   put  forth  thine   hand  on  so  glorious  an 
occasion  as  then,  when  thou  didst  give  up  and  devote  thine 
only  begotten  Son,  to  the  great  work  of  embodying   and 
bringing  thy  character    into  the  world  that  men  might  be- 
hold it  and  live!     And  thou,  co-equal  and  co-eternal  Son, 


166  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

never  hadst  thou  shone  more  glorious  in  the  eyes  of  pa- 
ternal love,  nor  made  so  large  and  unanswerable  a  demand 
on  the  admiration  and  homage  of  the  universe,  as  when, 
accepting  thy  new  and  mysterious  office,  thou  didst  say, 
'  For  their  sakes  I  sanctify  myself  In  pursuance  of  thy 
voluntary  engagement,  thou  didst  come  and  offer  thyself 
and  thy  glory  to  the  world;  thou  didst  withdraw  thyself 
from  the  grandeur  of  heaven,  and  set  thyself  apart  to  the 
wants  and  sorrows  of  earth  ;  and,  having  set  up  thy  taber- 
nacle amongst  us,  thou  didst  keep  it  consecrated  for  the 
indwelling  glory  and  for  the  worship  of  man.  Ambition 
never  entered  it:  the  kingdoms  of  the  world,  and  the  glo- 
ries of  them,  were  brought  in  perspective  before  thee;  but 
thou  sa west  them  as  though  thou  savvest  them  not.  Thou 
couldest,  with  a  single  sentence,  have  flashed  light  on  the 
darkest  mysteries  of  science ;  but  thou  wouldest  not  spare 
a  moment  from  teaching  that  sublimer  knowledge — the 
science  of  salvation.  Thou  hadst  ears  only  for  one  sound, 
and  that  was  the  sound  occasioned  by  sin  ;  the  voice  of 
penitence  imploring  forgiveness;  the  voice  of  fear  and 
conscious  guilt  deprecating  the  vengeance  of  eternal  fire. 
Thou  hadst  eyes  only  for  one  sight — a  \\ilderness  of  woe, 
a  captive  world,  chained  to  the  wheels  of  the  great  enemy, 
and  already  arrived  in  the  gloomy  precincts  of  hell.  This 
object  filled  the  whole  sphere  of  thy  vision;  thou  couldest 
see  nothing  else  ;  and  had  all  the  thrones  of  earth  been  va- 
cant and  invited  thy  acceptance,  it  would  not  have  induced 
thee  to  diverge  a  single  step  from  the  path  which  led  direct 
to  the  cross.  Thou  hadst  tears  but  for  one  object,  and  thou 
didst  weep  them  over  lost  souls.  So  fully  wast  thou  pos- 
sessed with  the  vastness  of  thy  design,  that  thou  didst 
value  moments,  faculties,  life  itself,  only  as  the  means  of 
working  it  out ;  and  through  every  step  of  thy  course,  thou 
didst  bring  the  whole  of  thy  glory  to  bear  on  its  comple- 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  167 

tion.  Thou  hadst  not  to  cast  out  aught  evil  from  thy  ca- 
pacious mind  ;  thou  hadst  not  to  sweep  and  cleanse  the 
temple  of  thy  soul  from  sordid  cares,  for  never  didst  thou 
know  a  thought  alien  from  thine  object;  and,  though  all 
the  fulness  and  fire  of  the  passions  dwelt  in  thee,  thou 
didst  not  waste  a  single  feeling,  but  didst  devote  the  whole 
as  consecrated  fuel  for  offering  up  the  great  sacrifice  in 
which  thy  life  was  consumed,  and  by  which  the  world 
might  be  saved.  And  how  godlike  was  the  object  to  which 
he  set  himself  apart!  At  the  altar  of  God  he  swore  eter- 
nal war  against  the  principle  of  sin  ;  devoted  himself  to 
the  work  of  chasing  it  from  the  earth,  of  putting  it  to  shame 
in  the  face  of  the  universe;  and  of  achieving  this  task, 
not  by  the  arbitrary  domination  of  power,  but  by  merely 
showing  what  God  is,  by  the  exercise  of  omnipotent  love. 
Were  we  to  hear  of  a  design  contemplated  by  God,  to  sub- 
due the  rebellion  of  hell,  and  to  rescue  its  victims,  what  a 
view  would  it  give  us  of  his  unresting  benevolence,  and 
with  what  impatient  longing  would  we  desire  to  know  the 
way  in  which  the  sun  of  the  divine  glory  would  arise  on 
the  blackness  of  darkness,  and  how  it  would  paint  its  lustre 
on  the  clouds  of  perdition.  But  the  importation  of  the  di- 
vine character  and  glory  to  earth,  in  the  person  of  Christ, 
however  from  circumstances  we  may  disparage  the  event, 
would  bear  a  comparison  even  with  that;  for  our  carnal 
mind  was  enmity  against  God  like  theirs,  while  we  pos- 
sessed not  even  the  redeeming  quality,  to  believe  and 
tremble. 

It  seems  to  be  one  of  the  laws  of  mind,  that  it  shall  be 
not  merely  employed,  but  employed  to  the  full ;  and  when 
it  becomes  conscious  of  its  dignity  and  powers,  nothing 
less  than  great  objects  can  satisfy  it.  Now,  what  a  thea- 
tre did  the  blessed  Jesus  select,  what  an  object  did  he  adopt 
in  coming  into  the  world  !  Let  us  receive  it  in  his  own 


168  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

words  to  the  eternal  Father  ;  '  For  their  sakes  I  sanctify 
myself,  that  they  may  be  sanctified  through  the  truth  ;'  that 
he  might  make  truth  do  the  work  of  power;  that  he  might 
pervade  and  transform  pollution  into  sanctity,  by  merely 
showing  it  the  face  of  truth  ;  that  he  might  erect  living 
temples  out  of  the  wreck  and  refuse  of  humanity,  swept 
by  the  besom  of  destruction  to  the  very  mouth  of  perdition. 
Let  us  hear  him  repeat  the  design  in  other  language; 
*  I  have  declared  unto  them  thy  name,  and  will  declare  it ; 
that  the  love  wherewith  thou  hast  loved  me  may  be  in  them, 
and  I  in  them?  He  contemplated  nothing  less  than  the 
conveyance  of  the  love  of  God  to  man  ;  to  bring  it  to  us 
as  our  portion  ;  entail  it  on  us  as  our  inheritance ;  trans- 
fuse it  through  us  as  our  life.  Like  the  prophet  emblem- 
atically extending  himself  over  the  dead  body  of  the  child, 
to  convey  life  into  all  its  parts,  the  Saviour  proposes  to  shed 
abroad  the  Jove  of  God  through  every  member  of  his  body 
the  church,  to  convey  the  circulating  vitality  of  that  love 
through  every  part  of  our  nature,  that  it  may  dwell  in  us 
as  it  does  in  him.  But  is  not  this  an  unattainable  design  ? 
is  it  possible  that  God  can  love  us  as  he  loves  Christ? 
Jesus  himself  declares,  that  nothing  less  than  this  can  sat- 
isfy his  desires  in  our  behalf;  and  we  may  rest  assured 
that,  vast  as  those  desires  are,  they  are  all  defined  and  ac- 
credited by  the  hand  of  infinite  wisdom  ;  they  are  only  the 
pulsations  of  the  heart  of  paternal  love ;  they  are  the  de- 
sires of  one,  who  knows,  if  we  may  say-so,  from  actual  ad- 
measurement, the  length  and  breadth,  the  height  and  depth 
of  the  love  of  God;  and  who  knows  that,  as  soon  as  we 
become  united  to  him,  the  Father  loves  us  as  parts  of 
Christ,  as  members  of  that  mystical  body  of  which  Christ  is 
the  glorified  head.  The  tide  of  the  divine  love,  on  its  first 
flowing  forth  from  the  heart  of  God,  found  its  rest  in  Christ ; 
till  having  opened  for  itself  an  ample  channel  through  his 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  169 

sufferings  and  death  in  our  stead,  it  poured  on  with  una- 
bated strength  to  reach  his  people,  carrying  away  all 
their  sins,  bearing  every  obstacle  before  it,  and  shedding 
itself  abroad  in  their  hearts:  Christ,  at  the  same  time,  en- 
tering with  it,  and  infinitely  augmenting  it  by  the  acces- 
sion ;  and  thus  realizing  his  great  and  godlike  design, 
'that  the  love  wherewith  thou  hast  loved  me  maybe  in 
them,  and  I  in  them.' 

So  great  was  the  avowed  intention  of  the  Redeemer's 
advent,  that  none  but  a  mind  of  infinite  compass  could 
have  formed  it ;  and  so  amazing  the  manner  in  which  he 
achieved  it,  by  the  humble  organs  and  instruments  of  hu- 
manity, that  were  it  not  for  the  immortal  interests  at  stake, 
we  could  scarely  wonder  at  the  ancient  heresy  which  taught 
that  the  whole  of  his  life  was  a  phantasm,  a  supernatural 
illusion  of  the  senses.  That  God  should  be  manifested 
in  the  flesh,  was  truly  the  mystery  which  had  been  hid 
from  ages,  and  from  generations.  That,  'in  the  nature  of  a 
man,  God  should  have  been,  like  light  in  the  sun,  enthron- 
ed, uttering  and  unburdening  infinite  love  with  his  tongue  ; 
beaming  divine  compassion  through  his  eyes;  illustrating 
purity  and  grace  by  his  actions — it  is  this  which  renders 
the  person  of  Christ  ineffably  glorious  above  the  whole 
creation  ;  it  is  this  wrhich  cnnvns  him  with  glory  and  hon- 
or. There  is  nothing  like  it  in  the  universe ;  take  the 
wings  of  the  morning  and  flee  to  the  uttermost  parts  of 
the  earth;  ransack  the  treasures  of  creation  ;  visit  and  be- 
hold its  brightest  glories,  plunge  into  the  depths  beneath  j 
soar  to  the  heights  above;  survey  and  question  the  blest 
inhabitants  of  heaven  ;  and  you  will  find  that  the  person  of 
Christ,  as  the  manifested  glory  of  God,  has  no  comparison 
Bring  all  that  is  great  into  his  presence,  and  it  becomes 
little ;  bring  all  that  is  glorious,  and  it  is  eclipsed  and  lost, 
Oh !  the  depth  of  the  riches  of  that  love,  wherein  God 


170  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

hath  abounded  towards  us  in  the  person  of  his  Son. 
When  we  begin  to  speak  of  it,  we  instantly  feel  the  pover- 
ty of  our  thoughts,  our  utter  unfitness  to  approach  it.  It 
is  a  subject  in  which  minds  of  every  order  are  alike  lost; 
on  which  human  wisdom  can  say  nothing;  on  which  we 
can  only  lisp  like  infants,  or  acknowledge,  our  helplessness 
by  our  silent  adoration.  Here,  then,  is  the  peculiar  prov- 
ince of  faith  and  prayer ;  here  is  an  object  in  whose  pres- 
ence our  wisdom  becomes  ignorance ;  here  our  understand- 
ing is  completely  at  fault;  God  in  Christ  is  an  object  so 
stupendous  that  it  cannot  be  brought  into  our  rninds ;  we 
have  not  room  to  receive  it ;  this  truth  is  a  guest  so  glori- 
ous, that  our  limited  mind  feels  itself  both  unworthy  and 
unable  to  receive  it  under  its  roof;  our  faith  must  go  forth,, 
with  all  the  train  of  Christian  graces,  and  do  it  homage. 
Like  the  apostle,  when  oppressed  in  its  presence  with  a 
sense  of  its  immensity  we  can  only  take  refuge  in  prayer, 
beseeching  '  the  Gfod  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
that  he  would  grant that  we  may  be  able  to  compre- 
hend  and  to  know  the  love  of  Christ,  which  passeth 

knowledge. 

We  have  already  remarked  the  profound  satisfaction 
expressed  by  the  Father,  at  the  display  of  his  character  in 
jthe  person  of  Christ;  a  satisfaction  which  showed  that  he 
beheld  in  it  the  perfect  reflection  of  his  own  image.  On 
account  of  this  entire  identity  of  character,  we  often  find 
the  apostles  speaking  of  the  eternal  Father  and  of  Christ, 
in  equivalent  and  convertible  terms.  Hence,  too,  the  pre- 
cedence and  importance  assigned  to  the  knowledge  of 
Christ;  and  the  promise  of  the  Spirit,  for  the  special  de- 
sign of  imparting  that  knowledge;  for  it  is  only  by  acquaint- 
ing ourselves  with  the  character  of  Christ  that  we  can  ar- 
rive at  the  knowledge  of  God  ;  our  knowledge  of  the  Son 
is  the  exact  measure  of  our  acquaintance  with  the  Father. 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  171 

The  Regenerating  Spirit,  in  all  his  operations  on  the  hu- 
man heart,  makes  the  character  of  Christ  the  pattern  after 
which  he  works;  he  begins  by  taking  of  the  things  of 
Christ,  and  showing  them  to  the  eye  which  he  has  pre- 
pared to  behold  them  ;  and  he  ends  not,  till  the  soul  is  com- 
pletely conformed  to  the  perfect  model.  Believers  them- 
selves are  enamored  of  it,  for  it  is  the  character  of  their 
Saviour ;  and  as  such,  every  act  and  feature  composing  it 
bears  a  direct  relation  to  them.  They  can  think  of  no  ex- 
cellence, can  make  not  the  remotest  approach  to  any  modi- 
fication of  goodness,  of  which  they  do  not  find  the  arche- 
type and  perfection  in  him.  Turning  from  every  other 
representation  as  dim  and  veiled,  they  all,  as  with  open  face, 
behold  in  him  the  glory  of  the  Lord.  A  glance  at  this  ob- 
ject fills  their  minds  with  a  grand  and  overpowering  idea 
of  excellence  ;  it  draws  to  itself  the  whole  depth  and  mass 
of  their  being.  They  count  every  part  of  their  moral  dis- 
cipline as  lost,  which  does  riot  promote  their  likeness  to  his 
i  mage;  every  instance  in  which  the  ordinances  of  grace 
do  not  increase  their  love  to  him,  they  regard  -as  a  fresh 
call  to  humiliation,  a  fresh  provocative  to  self-examination 
and  prayer  ;  while  every  act  of  devotion  they  deem  espe- 
cially defective,  which  does  not  celebrate  his  glory,  or  im- 
plore an  accession  of  '  the  Spirit  of  wisdom  and  revelation, 
in  the  knowledge  of  him. 

If  a  life  of  piety  may  be  considered  a  life  of  praise  to 
God ;  if  man  is  so  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made,  that 
even  a  discourse  on  the  use  of  the  parts  of  his  body  may 
be  regarded  as  a  hymn  to  the  Creator,  where  shall  we  find 
terms  fit  to  describe  the  tribute  of  Glory  to  God  which  ac- 
crues from  the  life  of  Christ  ?  or  could  we  appreciate  his 
character  in  all  its  perfections,  what  expressions  of  ecstacy 
and  delight  would  do  justice  to  its  worth  ?  Nature  from 
the  beginning,  had  been  vocal  in  her  Maker's  praise  ;  had 


172  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

been  constant  and  full  in  an  anthem,  in  which  every  crea- 
ture bore  its  part;  but  the  whole  creation   in  chorus  could 
not  show  forth  all  his  praise,  could  but  barely  hint  his  ex- 
cellence.    As  if  conscious  of  the  defect,  and  anxious  to  re- 
pair it  by  commencing  anew,  piety  had  often  restrung  her 
harp,  and  summoned  the  creatures  to  arise  and  aid  her  in 
the  infinite  attempt ;    had  called   on  everything  that  hath 
breath  to  join  in  a  full  concert  of  praise  to  God.     But  her 
utmost  effort  was  only  a  preluding  nourish,  till  he  should 
come  to  lead  the  song,  who  had  said,  '  In  the  midst  of  the 
church  will  I  sing  praise  unto  thee.'    He  took  up  the  strain 
at  a  point  beyond  which  creation  would  never  have  carried 
it.     His  voice  gave  the  key-note  to  the  universe.     His  de- 
scription of  the  divine  character    furnished  wrords  for  the 
new,  everlasting,  universal  song.     His  unconfined  power  ; 
his  unsearchable   understanding ;    his  holiness,  on  which 
no  spot,  no  shadow  could  settle,  and  which  the  eyes  of 
wickedness  could  not  gaze  on  for  its  brightness ;  his  untir- 
ing patience ;    his   constant  community  with  the  general 
heart  of  man,  which  he  wept  over  and  bathed  in  tears  :  his 
meekness  clothed  with  majesty :    his  personification  of  in- 
finite love  :  these  were  the  several  parts  of  the  harmonious 
song.     All  the  attributes  in   him  became  vocal,  and   made 
infinite  music  in  the  ear  of  that  glorious   Being*  in  whom 
they  eternally  reside.      Each  myriad-voiced  rank   of  the 
church  above,  over-flowing  with  joy,  took  up  the  mighty, 
whelming,  ocean  strain :  the  church  below  redoubled,  and 
returned  it  back  again  in  alleluias   to  the  throne  of  God ; 
age  after  age  has  heard  it  swelling  on,  as  lisping  infancy, 
and  newly  j  ardoned  penitence,  and  misery  beguiled  of  its 
woes,  and  ingratitude  charmed  into  thankfulness,  and  hope 
spreading  her  pinions  for  heaven,  and  all  the  new-born 
heirs  of  grace  have  awoke  up  their  glory,  and  joined  the 
general  choir  ;  and  on  it  shall  continue  to  roll  and  swell 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  173 

attuning  and  gathering  to  itself  all  the  harmonies  of  nature; 
till  all  space  shall  become  a  temple;  and  all  holy  beings, 
actuated  by  one  spirit,  and  swayed  in  perfect  diapason,  shall 
become  one  great  instrument,  sounding  forth  *  praise  to 
God  in  the  church,  by  Christ  Jesus,  throughout  all  ages, 
world  without  end.  Amen. 


SECTION    III. OF    THE    HOLY    SPIRIT. 


'This  spake  he  of  the  Spirit,  which  they  that  believe  on  him  should  receive. ; 


IT  is  extremely  difficult  to  discriminate  between  origin- 
ality and  mere  novelty  in  a  public  teacher.  The  multitude 
are  so  prone  to  take  their  opinions  from  first  impulses, 
rather  than  from  judgment;  inconsiderately  and  impetu- 
ously to  ascribe  a  new  and  pleasing  impression  to  the 
highest  possible  origin,  rather  than  to  any  secondary  cause; 
that  many  a  public  instructor  has  been  invested  with  the 
highest  prerogative  of  genius,  whose  only  attraction  was, 
that  he  had  assumed  one  of  the  thousand  vizors  which  nov- 
elty owns,  and  wore  it  gracefully.  And  what  enhances 
the  difficulty  of  discrimination  is,  that  while  it  is  in  the 
power  of  an  inferior  mind  to  invest  a  familiar  truth  with 
an  air  of  singularity,  it  is  one  of  the  attributes  of  the  high- 
est order  of  intellect,  and  an  attribute  which  it  delights  to 
exercise,  to  simplify  an  original  truth  and  give  to  it  an  air 
of  familiarity ;  to  secure  for  it  an  easy  introduction  into 
the  mind,  by  giving  it  though  a  stranger,  the  welcome  as- 
pect of  a  friend. 


174  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

The  difficulty  of  discrimination  is  farther  increased, 
when  the  truths  to  he  judged  of  date  hack  to  a  remote  an- 
tiquity: when  by  distance  of  time,  which  operates  in  this 
case  like  distance  of  space,  the  opinions  which  looked  bold 
and  prominent  to  the  near  beholder,  have  mingled  and 
melted  into  one  mass  of  indistinctness. 

We  have  advanced  the  claim  of  originality  for  many  of 
the  doctrines  of  the  Great  Teacher;  and  were  the  Old 
Testament  the  only  witness  to  be  examined,  the  claim  might 
be  easily  substantiated.  But  during  the  long  silence  of 
the  divine  oracle,  during  the  space  which  intervened  from 
the  last  words  of  Malachi  to  the  coming  of  Christ,  we  know 
not  what  opinions  grew  up  and  prevailed.  It  is  only  reas- 
oning on  the  known  principles  of  humanity,  to  say,  that 
when  the  living  voice  of  inspiration  had  ceased  to  speak, 
the  sacred  volume  was  much  more  likely  to  receive  the 
undivided  attention  of  the  church  than  before.  And  with 
a  volume  so  seminal  of  all  truth,  so  constantly  whispering 
in  the  ear  of  hope,  as  the  Bible,  who  can  say  what  ap- 
proaches were  made  to  many  evangelical  doctrines  ;  what 
prophets  of  hope  arose?  And  when  once  opinions,  to 
which  the  wants  or  aspirations  of  the  soul  respond,  have 
been  broached,  who  can  say  to  what  consolidation  or  sta- 
bility they  may  attain  ?  The  feathered  seed,  which  this 
year  floats  in  the  air ;  the  emblem  of  volatility  ;  a  feather 
dropped  from  the  wing  of  levity  ;  will  next  year,  be  found 
rooted  in  the  earth ;  dividing  with  the  oak  the  spoils  of 
the  clouds,  and  rejoicing  in  the  blessings  of  heaven,  itself  a 
seed-bearing  plant.  And  the  floating  guess  of  one  age  be- 
comes the  settled  creed  of  a  succeeding ;  its  point-like  base 
is  forgotten ;  and  men  go  on  building  an  inverted  pyramid 
whose  top  may  reach  to  heaven  :  it  is  congenial  with  one 
or  other  of  the  elements  of  humanity,  and  by  passing 
through  a  thousand  minds,  it  acquires  a  consistency  and 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  175 

power  which  gives  it  a  place  among  the  realities  of  our 
being. 

By  what  process  then  shall  we  ascertain  how  much  of 
the  gospel  is  an  absolute  origination  ;  or  how  much  is  a 
mere  adoption  and  authorization  of  pre-existing  opinions? 
Taking  many  other  tests  for  granted,  it  may  be  suggested, 
that  the  amount  of  new  truth  contained  in  the  gospel,  or 
the  degree  of  newness  belonging  to  any  one  of  its  doc- 
trines, may  be  conjectured  from  the  number  of  errors 
which  have  sprung  up  around  it.  Truth  is  antecedent  to 
error  and  the  measure  of  it ;  as  is  the  originality  of  a  doc- 
trine or  system,  in  the  same  proportion  will  be  the  multi- 
plicity of  errors  following.  The  whole  tribe  of  error  is 
parasitical,  and  can  only  grow  by  hanging  its  envenomed 
weight  on  the  plants  of  truth.  Let  the  doctrines  of  Christ 
be  judged  of  in  this  way;  the  plants  of  the  Lord's  right- 
hand  planting,  and  the  originality  of  his  teaching  will  be 
apparent  to  all. 

The  doctrine  of  the  agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  is  one 
of  the  most  original  which  came  from  the  lips  of  Christ ; 
and  one  whose  precise  degree  of  originality  is  most  mark- 
ed and  ascertainable.  Referring  to  the  records  of  the  Old 
Testament,  we  learn  the  distinction  of  the  Spirit  in  the 
unity  of  the  Godhead ;  his  personality  and  his  divinity. 
We  read  of  the  same  divine  subsistence  as  daily  replen- 
ishing the  earth  with  life  and  beauty  ;  as  visiting  and  ac- 
tuating the  moral  world  at  pleasure ;  and  as  promised  to 
the  church,  with  a  frequency,  particularity,  and  magnifi- 
cence of  language,  which  showed  that  the  divine  Promi- 
ser  himself  regarded  the  gift  as  identical  with  a  state  of 
distinguished  prosperity;  and  which  led  believers  to 
mark  it  with  supreme  distinction,  by  calling  it  the  the  pro- 
mise. 

Concerning  the  nature  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  as  a  distinct 


176  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

and  divine  person,  the  teaching-  of  Christ  is  clear  and  con- 
clusive: nor  can  we  conceive  any  thing  more  unwelcome, 
to  those  who  shrink  from  applying  the  personal  pronouns 
to  the  Divine  Spirit  than  the  valedictory  discourse  of 
Christ  to  his  disciples.*  If  I  do  not  enlarge  on  this  part 
of  the  subject,  then,  let  it  be  understood,  that  I  refrain  not 
because  Christ  was  silent  on  it ;  for  he,  I  repeat,  was  copi- 
ous and  explicit;  but  because  he  had  been  greatly  antici- 
pated by  the  revelations  of  the  Old  Testament. 

I.  It  is  worthy  of  our  earliest  consideration,  both  from 
its  native  importance,  and  from  the  peculiar  solemnity  of 
the  affirmation,  that  our  Lord  described  the  mission  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  as  absolutely  dependent  on  his  own  return  to 
heaven.  'Nevertheless,  Ite'.l  you  the  truth,  it  is  expedi- 
ent for  you  that  I  go  away  ;  for,  if  I  go  not  away,  the 
Spirit  will  not  come  unto  you  ;  but,  if  I  depart,  I  will  send 
him  unto  you.'  Now,  admitting  the  impropriety  of  any 
arrangement  which  should  have  combined  together  the 
presence  of  the  Spirit  and  the  personal  residence  of  Christ 
in  permanent  conjunction  on  earth,  it  may  yet  be  inquired 
why  the  mission  of  the  Spirit  could  not  have  taken  place 
immediately  before  the  ascension  of  Christ,  as  well  as 
immediately  after  ?  If  the  inquirer  be  sincere,  it  would  be 
sufficient  to  reply,  '  Even  so,  Father :  for  so  it  seemeth 
good  in  thy  sight.'  The  arrangement  may  have  been 
founded  on  reasons  of  state  ;  reasons,  which  measure  with 
the  universe,  as  comprehensive  as  the  divine  government, 
and  the  issues  of  which  are  placed  far  in  eternity.  But 
many  of  the  reasons  for  this  arrangement  are  apparent : 

*  On  the  ineffable  promanation  or  procession  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
from  the  Father  and  the  Son,  though  it  is  a  truth  which  seems  ne- 
cessarily involved  in  certain  parts  of  that  discourse,  I  presume  not 
to  speak. 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  177 

The  Almighty  evinced  by  it  his  reverence  for  order.  He 
was  evolving  a  plan  of  infinite  magnitude,  the  unfolding 
of  which  had  commenced  at  the  fall ;  he  had  arrived  at  a 
vital  part  of  it,  a  part  on  which  he  would  have  mankind  in 
all  ages  to  fix  their  gaze  ;  and  he  therefore  caused  it  to  un- 
fold and  pass  before  their  eyes  in  slow  and  stately  proces- 
sion. He  knew  that  man  is  easily  distracted  by  multipli- 
city of  objects  ;  is  extremely  liable  to  place  the  cause  for 
the  effect,  and  the  effect  for  the  cause ;  is  taught  most  ef- 
fectually by  example ;  is  prone  to  disregard  a  future  good, 
so  long  as  he  can  retain  a  present  though  inferior  bles- 
sing:  on  all  these  accounts,  therefore,  the  mission  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  was  withheld  until  Christ  had  ascended  to  his 
appointed  throne.  The  Almighty  would  signalize  the  en- 
thronement of  Christ  in  the  eyes  of  the  universe  ;  would 
impress  the  minds  of  believers  with  the  glorious  reception 
which  their  Head  had  met  with  on  his  return  to  heaven  ; 
would  enjoy  the  infinite  satisfaction  of  hearing(  the  first 
prayer  of  that  exalted  Head  for  the  promised  Spirit ;  and 
thus  demonstrate  to  them,  at  once  and  for  ever,  the  certain 
prevalency  of  his  intercession  ;  for  if  his  first  prayer  suc- 
ceeded in  obtaining  for  us  the  great  gift  of  the  Spirit,  how 
much  more  shall  he  secure  for  us  every  inferior  good  ;  God 
would  show  us  in  the  most  impressive  manner, -by  placing 
the  fact  in  the  strong  light  of  the  mediatorial  throne,  that 
the  connexion  of  the  work  of  Christ  with  the  gift  of  the 
Spirit,  is  the  absolute  connexion  of  cause  and  effect. 

'  He  spake  of  the  Spirit  which  they  that  believe  on  him 
should  receive ;  for  the  Spirit  was  not  yet  given,  because 
that  Jesus  was  not  yet  glorified.'  Can  we  suppose  that 
his  ascension  to  heaven  was  a  silent  and  private  transac- 
tion ?  Shall  an  Elijah  ascend  in  a  chariot  of  fire?  shall 
the  departed  spirit  of  a  Lazarus  be  conveyed  by  angels  to 
Abraham's  bosom?  and  shall  the  Lord  of  angels  himself 
11 


178  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

return  to  his  own  dominions  from  the  conquest  of  one 
world,  and  the  redemption  of  another,  unattended  and  ob- 
scure? No;  'The  chariots  of  God,  on  the  occasion, 
were  twenty  thousand,  even  thousands  of  angels,'  At  the 
point  where  he  vanished  from  the  view  of  mortals,  he  was 
joined  by  the  rejoicing  ranks  of  the  cherubim  and  sera- 
phim ;  he  found  them  arranged  to  receive  him  ;  impatient 
to  commence  the  celebration  of  his  deeds,  and  to  conduct 
him  in  triumph  to  his  glorious  throne.  His  appearance 
was  the  signal  to  begin  the  song:  they  called  on  earth  to 
assist  them  in  the  mighty  task,  *  Sing  unto  God,  ye  king- 
doms of  the  earth:  O  sing  praises  unto  the  Lord  ;  to  him 
that  rideth  upon  the  -heaven  of  heavens.'  That  was  the 
moment  when  the  universe  became  the  vehicle  of  his  glo- 
ry ;  \vhen  he  began  to  ride  on  the  summit  of  creation ; 
having  all  the  events  and  revolutions  of  time  for  his  char- 
iot wheels.  Hitherto,  as  man,  he  had  inhabited  the  materi- 
al parts  of  the  creation  ;  but  now  he  relinquished  these  and 
took  possession  of  the  intelligent  parts.  He  began  to  in- 
habit the  praises  of  eternity :  not  merely  the  spiritual  uni- 
.verse,  but  even  the  essence  of  that;  the  life  of  the  spiritual 
universe,  exhaling  in  the  incense  and  fragrance  of  praise. 
He  found  himself  enthroned  far  above  all  heavens,  with  the 
heights  of  creation  for  his  footstool. 

It  had  been  predicted,,  and  he  himself  had  confirmed  the 
expectation,  that  when  he  ascended  up  on  high,  he  would 
give  gifts  unto  men.  But  what  gift  can  Christ  bestow  rich 
enough  to  signalize  and  grace  his  accession  to  the  media- 
torial throne?  Had  he  collected  together  all  the  treasures 
of  the  earth,  and  multiplied  them  a  thousand  fold,  and  then 
poured  them  out  at  the  feet  of  his  people,  the  gift  would 
have  been  utterly  inadequate  to  the  greatness  of  the  occa- 
sion ;  had  all  created  good  been  accumulated  upon  them  to 
the  highest  possible  amount,  it  would  only  have  disgraced 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  179 

the  greatness  of  the  occasion.  The  unconfined  benevo- 
lence of  his  heart  impelled  him  to  give  something,  (for  it 
was  the  jubilee  of  heaven,)  and  if  he  gave,  he  would  be 
sure  to  bestow  a  gift  worthy  of  himself,  answerable  to  the 
magnitude  of  the  occasion,  honorable  to  the  royalty  of  his 
grace.  But  if  such  is  to  be  the  character  of  the  gift;  the 
Spirit,  the  divine  Spirit,  the  converting,  enlightening,  sanc- 
tifying, saving  Spirit  alone,  must  be  the  donation.  Be- 
cause he  would  give  all  gifts  in  one,  he  gave  to  them  the 
Holy  Spirit. 

A  very  limited  measure  of  this  gift  indeed,  the  mere 
earnest  of  the  Spirit,  had  been  enjoyed  under  the  Jewish 
dispensation  :  but  the  Spirit  in  his  fulness  was  not  then 
given,  because  the  framework  of  that  economy  was  too 
material  to  be  inhabited  and  actuated  by  the  Spirit ;  and 
because  Jesus,  for  whose  bestowmentthe  gift  was  reserved, 
was  not  yet  glorified.  But,  during  the  whole  economy, 
the  influences  of  the  Spirit  had  been  accumulating  for  that 
auspicious  moment.  Prayers  had  been  daily  ascending 
for  the  fulfillment  of  'the  promise  ;'  and,  of  all  these  ear- 
nest supplications,  not  one  had  been  lost ;  each  of  them  had 
been  turned  into  the  blessing  sought  for,  and  had  added 
something  to  the  treasures  of  divine  influence.  The 
church  had  been  incessantly  importuning  God  to  hasten 
the  impartation  of  the  gift;  and  with  profound  satisfaction, 
he  had  beheld  a  stream  of  supplication  flowing  for  ages 
into  the  same  channel,  without  a  moment's  pause,  swelling 
and  rising,  till  it  was  ready  to  overflow  and  pour  forth  a 
healing  flood  of  heavenly  influence  over  the  world.  Noth^ 
ing  was  wanting,  but  that  Christ  should  add  his  interces- 
sion. Nothing  was  wanting,  but  that  he  should  ascend 
his  throne,  and  claim  the  gift  of  the  Spirit,  to  pour  it  out 
upon  his  people. 

*  He  ascended  up  on  high,  leading  captivity  captive,  and 


180  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

gave  gifts  unto  men.'  Having  reached  his  throne,  the 
Spirit  came  down  as  he  had  promised;  came  like  a  rush- 
ng  mighty  wind,  filling  the  whole  house  where  the  disci- 
ples were  assembled,  filling  each  heart,  filling  the  whole 
chui'ch  ;  came  with  a  copiousness  and  a  power  as  if  his 
influences  had  for  ages  been  pent  up  and  under  restraint, 
and  now  rejoiced  at  being  able  to  pour  themselves  out  over 
the  church  and  the  world.  And  what  was  the  immediate 
effect  of  that  event  ?  thousands  were  instantly  converted  ; 
the  sword  of  the  Spirit  seemed  newly  edged  with  power, 
and  bathed  in  the  lightnings  of  heaven,  flashing  conviction 
on  human  consciences,  and  piercing  to  the  recesses  of  the 
soul.  The  gospel  went  flying  abroad  to  the  utmost  ends 
of  the  earth,  levying  human  hearts  in  the  name  of  Christ 
wherever  it  came.  The  influences  of  the  Spirit  poured 
over  the  world  like  an  inundation,  a  new  deluge,  overturn- 
ing the  altars  and  sweeping  away  the  vestiges  of  idolatry ; 
and,  had  the  vital  flood  continued  to  roll  on,  the  only  altar 
left  standing  would  have  been  that  which  sanctifieth  the 
gift  and  the  giver — the  altar  of  the  cross.  New  territories 
were  added  to  the  domains  of  the  church ;  vast  tracts  of 
the  moral  wilderness  were  taken  into  the  garden  of  the 
Lord.  The  church  beheld  her  converts  flocking  to  her 
from  all  directions,  like  clouds  of  doves  to  their  windows : 
and  among  the  wonders  of  that  period,  one  was,  to  see  her 
enemies  lick  the  dust;  to  see  her  bitterest  persecutors  be- 
come her  champions  and  her  martyrs ;  to  see  leopards 
become  lambs,  and  wolves  become  kids. 

The  church  became  one  region  of  life,  of  divine  vitality 
throughout ;  in  which  whosoever  breathed,  lived — enjoyed 
life  in  perfection.  From  a  state  of  unsightly  barrenness 
and  drought,  it  was  suddenly  covered  with  verdure,  like 
the  garden  of  the  Lord.  Believers  themselves  seemed  re- 
converted;  if  sinners  became  saints,  saints  themselves 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  181 

became  as  angels  ;  thus  fulfilling  the  prophecy  which  had 
said,  '  The  weak  shall  be  as  David,  and  David  as  an  angel 
of  the  Lord.'  Every  Christian  saw  in  every  other  the  face 
of  an  angel,  looks  of  benevolence  and  brotherly  love  ;  one 
interest  prevailed  ;  one  subject  of  emulation  swallowed  up 
every  other;  who  should  approach  nearest  to  the  likeness 
of  Christ;  which  should  do  most  for  the  enlargement  of 
his  reign.  *  The  whole  multitude  of  them  that  believed 
were  of  one  heart,  and  of  one  rnind  ; '  the  Spirit  of  Christ 
animated  the  whole,  became  the  one  heart  of  the  whole 
community,  and  every  particular  pulse  beat  in  concert  with 
it.  What  a  gift  was  this  !  The  value  of  a  gift  depends 
materially  on  its  suitableness  ;  what  could  be  more  suitable 
to  a  world  dying,  dead  in  sin,  than  the  Spirit  of  life  and  of 
holiness.  The  world  was  a  valley  of  dry  bones  ;  what 
could  be  more  welcome  than  that  the  Spirit  should  come 
and  breathe  upon  these  slain,  that  they  might  live  ;  that, 
descending  to  this  moral  Golgotha,  this  place  of  skulls,  he 
should  give  a  soul  to  the  world,  and  again  replenish  it  with 
spiritual  life.  How  munificent  was  this  gift !  It  was  mu- 
nificent in  itself,  in  its  kind,  for  it  was  the  best ;  and  was 
also  munificent  in  its  degree,  for  he*  poured  it  forth  in  a 
profusion  of  gifts  and  graces.  It  was  owing  to  no  indi- 
gence, to  no  niggardliness  on  the  part  of  Christ,  that  his 
church  did  not  rapidly  extend  over  the  world,  and  that  the 
whole  was  not  filled  with  the  Spirit.  He  gave  with  a  lib- 
erality which  showed  that  he  tasted  his  own  act,  enjoyed 
the  godlike  act  of  giving,  gratified  himself  in  the  exercise 
of  his  benignity.  How  godlike  was  this  gift !  Had  man 
been  consulted  on  the  occasion,  he  would  have  asked  some 
inferior  good  ;  but  Jesus,  taking  the  affair  entirely  into  his 
own  hands,  poured  out  his  Holy  Spirit — a  blessing  intend- 
ed to  make  us  holy  like  himself,  happy  like  himself,  and 
even  one  with  himself;  for,  by  giving  us  his  Spirit,  he 


182  THE     GREAT     TEACHER. 

may  be  said  to  have  given  us  himself,  to  have  turned  him- 
self into  Spirit,  into  a  fountain  of  divine  influence  that  he 
may  be  one  with  our  spirits. 

II.  The  great  object  of  the  advent  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
is  thus  distinctly  specified  by  Christ :  '  When  he  is  come, 
he  shall  convince  the  world  of  sin  ; '  an  announcement 
which  Jesus  himself  must  have  felt  as  a  wonderful  truth. 
Standing  as  he  did  at  that  moment  near  to  the  cross,  in  the 
shadow  of  that  awful  monument  of  human  guilt,  he  could 
not  have  glanced  around  on  the  scene  of  enormous  and 
complicated  guilt  he  was  about  to  leave,  and  forward  to  the  tri- 
umph and  agency  of  the  descending  spirit,  without  feeling, 
as  he  uttered  this  grand  prediction,  that  he  was  unbur- 
thening  his  mind  of  a  weighty  and  glorious  communi- 
cation. 

An  obvious  and  striking  feature  of  all  the  divine  opera- 
tions, is  the  accomplishment  of  the  most  comprehensive 
and  important  ends,  by  few  and  simple  means.  Such  is 
the  nice  dependence  of  every  part  of  his  government  on 
every  other  part,  and  such  the  entire  harmony  of  the  whole, 
that  he  only  touches  an  almost  invisible  chord,  and  the  vi- 
bration is  felt  to  the  extremities  of  the  universe:  how  tre- 
mendous then  must  that  principle  of  evil  be,  which  can 
only  be  subdued  by  the  mighty  power  of  the  Spirit ;  by 
the  advent  and  accession  of  the  third  person  in  the  awful 
Godhead  ;  by  no  modified  energy,  but  by  the  full  almigh- 
tiness  of  divine  power.  And  tremendous  it  was !  The 
world  had  become  the  grave  of  piety :  if  the  principle  of 
'piety  showed  itself  vigorous  and  active,  it  became  the  mark 
for  every  shaft  and  weapon  of  hell ;  if  it  was  impotent,  it 
soon  sickened  and  sunk  under  the  pestilential  atmosphere 
which  sin  had  universally  diffused  ;  angelic  piety  itself 
would  have  found  a  sepulchre  here.  Not  only  was  the 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  183 

world  destitute  of  all  native,  active  goodness  ;  a  principle 
of  evil,  another  Spirit  embodying  all  the  essences  of  evil, 
Avas  here,  and  at  work.  But  did  man  show  no  signs  of 
resistance  to  this  alien  Spirit  ?  not  a  single  indication  of 
spiritual  conflict  appeared  ;  all  was  silent,,  unconstrained 
submission,  for  this,  to  use  the  emphatic  language  of  in- 
spiration, is,  *  where  Satan's  seat  is.' 

Now  by  what  means  shall  this  mass  of  disorder,  dark 
ness,  and  death  be  renovated  ?     The  divine  benevolence 
had  been  prodigal  of  its  means  ;  but  as  to  any  permanent 
good,  they  had  failed.     Experience  had  shown,  that  it  was 
easier  to  crush  and   destroy  the  world,  than  to  reform  it. 
The  Son  of  God  himself  had  descended ;  but,  as   if  deter- 
mined by  one  desperate  act  to  shut  out  all  further  commu- 
nications from  above,  as  if  to  intimidate  the  mercy  of  Om- 
nipotence, they  crucified  the  Lord  of  glory.     What  expe- 
dient, then,  we  ask,  remains  to  be  employed?     Oh  !     how 
boundless  are  the   divine  resources  !     how  grand !     how 
amazing  the  provision  !     It  was  not  that  our  world  should 
be  the  scene  of  a  splendid  angelic  administration,  and  be 
charmed  into  a  love  of  piety  by  their  graceful  exhibition 
of  it :  it  was  not  that  our  world  should  be  placed  in  dread- 
ful proximity  to  hell,  and  be  awed  into  sullen  but  silent 
submission  by  the  sight  of  worms  that  die  not,  and  of  fires 
that  are  not  quenched :  it  was  not  that  our  world  should  be 
raised  into  the  precincts  of  heaven ;  that   a  sight  of  the 
Being  we  had  rejected,  there  enthroned  in  light,  and  sur- 
rounded by  the  sanctities  of  heaven  might  surprise  us  into 
involuntary  adoration.     No,  saith  Christ,  '  My  Spirit  alone 
is  competent  to  the  task  ;     and  when  He.  is  ccme,  He  shall 
convince  the  world  of  sin.     External  applications   would 
only  produce  at  best,  a  temporary  re-action  of  mind  :  the 
agency  that  shall  succeed  in  transforming  it,  must  include 
the  power  of  coming  into  immediate  contact  with  it,  and 


184  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

of  having  at  command  whatever  can  suitably  affect  it.  I 
have  a  cause  lying  against  mankind  ;  and  he  shall  be  my 
Advocate.  I  have  an  indefeasible  claim  on  the  human 
heart ;  and  he,  the  Great  Pleader,  shall  enforce  it  on  the 
consciences  of  men.  He  shall  go  into  all  the  world  as- 
serting my  right,  vindicating  my  claims,  and  writing  my 
name  upon  human  hearts;  and  he  shall  pass  into  every 
region  of  the  soul,  diffuse  himself  through  all  its  capaci- 
ties and  recesses,  throwing  light  into  the  understanding, 
assailing  and  subverting  the  fortress  of  sin  in  the  heart, 
and  taking  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  me  from  all  its  redeem- 
ed powers.' 

Accordingly,  in  the  discharge  of  his  awful   functions, 
the  Spirit  addresses  himself  to  the  hearts  of  men.     There 
is  sin  lying  upon  them,  enormous   sin  !     and  his  object  is 
to  convince  them  of  it.     Oh  !   how  solemn  the  transaction  ! 
how  mysterious  the  process!     how  critical  the  juncture! 
The  instrument  employed  may  be,  in  itself,  the  most  sim- 
ple and  inefficient ;  hearing  the  gospel,  or  reading  it,  or 
re-calling  some  truth  to  mind  :    but  while  the  eye,  or  the 
ear,  or  the  memory  is  thus  engaged,  and  all  without  seems 
at  rest,  the  Spirit  is  at  work  within,  bringing  the  truth  for- 
ward into  the  strong  light  of  distinct   consciousness;  ren- 
dering it  irresistible,  by  taking  away  the  very  will  of  re- 
sisting; turning  it  into  a  living  conviction,  and  incorporat- 
ing it  among  the  spiritual  realities  of  the  soul.     There  are 
times,  when  all  sensation'  seems  collected  into  a  point,  and 
we  live  only  in  the  eye  or  the  ear  :  and  when  the  In  visible- 
Spirit  is  at  work  within,  creating  a  new  heart,  the  faculties 
and  energies  of  our  whole  being  seem  collected  into  a  fo- 
cal   point — the  entire  soul  becomes  conscience.     Having 
seated  and  centered  himself  there,  the  whole  mass  and  depth 
of  our  being  is  drawn,  slowly  perhaps,  yet  certainly  drawn 
to  him,  owning  his  power,  and  trembling  at  his  presence. 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  185 

He  is  there,  in  the  name  of  Christ ;  there,  as  the  living- 
Law,  come  down  to  right  itself ;  and  as  he  goes  on  con- 
victing the  sinner,  piling  up  sentences  of  condemnation  ; 
one  power  of  the  soul  after  another  awakes,  till  the  whole 
soul  is  one  region  of  alarm;  and,  collecting  all  its  ener- 
gies into  an  outcry  for  mercy,  exclaims,  *  What  must  T  do 
to  be  saved? ;  The  prediction  hof  Jesus  is  then  fulfilled  ; 
the  Divine  Spirit  has  conducted  the  cause  of  his  illustrious 
Client  to  a  triumphant  issue. 

And  in  doing  this,  observe,  no  external  force  is  employ- 
ed ;    no  violence  whatever  is  done  to  the  freedom  of  the 
mind  ;  the  subject  of  the  operation  is  never  more  conscious 
of  mental  liberty  than  when  the  change  is  in  process.     It 
is  true,  the  change  is  necessitated  ;  but  that  moral  necessity 
is  the  highest  form  of  freedom.     It  is  true,  that  the  mind 
is  brought  under  the  authority  of  a  new  law  :  but  that  law 
is  the  royal  law  of  liberty,  the  law  to  which  the  nature  of 
man  was  preconfigured ;    and   all  that  the  Divine  Spirit 
effects,  is  to  bring  out  arid  make  legible  the  secret  charac- 
ters of  that  law  originally  written  on  the  heart.    He  comes 
to  the  emancipation  of  the  will  from  a  state  of  slavery ; 
(for  sin  can  only  triumph  by  enfeebling  the  mind  and  ex- 
tinguishing the  liberty  of  the  soul)  ;    and  hence  from  first 
to  last,   he  carries   the  mind  along  with  him,  employs  its 
own  voluntary  agency,  calls  into  exercise  its  noblest  pow- 
ers.   Even  the  expulsion  of  sin  is  the  act  of  the  soul  itself; 
for  no  sooner  is  it  thus  revisited  by  its  Maker,  than  it  em- 
ploys against  sin  those   arms  and  instruments  which  had 
hitherto  served  as  members  of  unrighteousness.      In  fine, 
the  only  condition  on  which  the  freedom  of  a  finite  will  is 
possible,  is,  by  its  becoming  one  with  the  will  of  God ; 
and  to  produce  this  happy  junction  is  the  object  of  the  re- 
generating Spirit;    so  that  subjection  to  him  is  restoration 
to  one's  self.  His  presence  in  the  soul  is  the  first  signal  and 


186  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

moment  of  freedom;  and  the  more  he  puts  forth  his  influ- 
ence within  it,  the  more  spontaneous  and  vigorous  are  its 
own  movements ;  till  it  utters  an  instinctive  cry  for  the 
Spirit,  and  for  liberty,  as  for  an  identical  good, 

III.  The  same  truth  appears  in  another  original  state- 
ment of  Christ,  declarative  of  the  means  by  which  the 
Holy  Spirit  should  operate  on  the  mind — '  He  shall  take  of 
mine,  and  show  it  unto  you.'  Sin  is  the  disease  and  de- 
rangement of  the  soul,  in  consequence  of  which  the  under- 
standing fails  to  discharge  its  appointed  function  on  the 
heart :  the  eye  of  a  corpse,  as  long  as  its  transparency  re- 
mains unimpaired,  will  receive  the  picture  of  an  object  on 
the  retina  as  well  as  if  the  organ  were  living,  but  there  is 
no  corresponding  impression  produced  on  the  brain  :  so  re- 
ligious truths  may  be  easily  imported  into  the  understanding, 
but  then  it  has  ceased  to  be  a  medium  of  conveyance  to  the 
heart ;  the  communication  between  them  is  obstructed,  and 
we  have  the  mortification  of  finding,  that  to  obtain  the  as- 
sent of  the  one,  is  no  security  whatever  for  the  concurrence 
of  the  other.  To  produce  this  essential  coincidence  be- 
tween the  understanding  and  the  heart  is  the  province  of 
the  Spirit  alone. 

In  a  well-ordered  family,  while  every  member  has  his 
appropriate  duties,  yet,  if  occasion  require,  one  will  go  far 
in  his  kind  endeavors  to  supply  the  deficiencies  or  absence 
of  another.  And  though  the  several  powers  of  the  mind, 
like  an  exemplary  household,  have  their  respective  duties, 
yet,  on  occasion,  will  the  emotions  and  excited  affections 
of  the  soul  find  an  understanding  of  their  own,  and  antici- 
pate the  office  of  the  judgment.  Under  the  influence  of 
the  Spirit,  the  heart  is  frequently  induced  to  listen  for  the 
understanding,  as  well  as  the  understanding  for  the  heart. 
His  entrance  occasions  a  temporary  confusion  in  the  house- 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  187 

hold  economy  of  the  soul,  during  which  an  interchange  of 
friendly  offices  unconsciously  takes  place,  and  which  facili- 
tates the  necessary  preparation  for  the  reception  of  the 
King  of  Glory. 

And  how  alluring  the  objects,  how  captivating  the  means 
by  which  he  solicits  an  entrance  into  the  soul !  It  is  true, 
that  the  process  of  couching  the  mental,  not  less  than  the 
bodily  eye,  may  be  attended  with  pain  ;  the  birth-pangs  of 
the  new  principle  may  be  severe :  but  the  objects  to  which 
he  directs  the  first  efforts  of  the  attention  are  all  of  the 
most  captivating  nature.  The  first  sight  which  greeted 
the  eye  of  Adam,  was  the  enchanting  scenery  of  paradise 
wet  with  the  first  dew;  and  the  sight  on  which  the  Di- 
vine Spirit  would  have  the  eye  of  the  new  creature  first  to 
rest,  is  composed  of  the  selected  and  arranged  glories  of 
Christ.  He  takes  the  best  of  the  best,  the  most  attractive 
excellencies  of  him  who  is  '  altogether  lovely,'  and  disposes 
them  so  as  to  engage  and  receive  the  first  glances  of  the 
renewed  sinner:  infinite  love,  in  the  person  of  the  Son  of 
God,  looking  at  him  from  heaven;  erasing  the  sentence 
of  his  condemnation  ;  inserting  his  name  in  the  book  of 
life;  presenting  to  him  a  robe  of  righteousness;  preparing 
for  him  a  heavenly  mansion  ;  pointing  him  to  the  spectacle 
of  the  cross  as  the  means  of  his  redemption,  and  to  the 
crown  of  life  as  the  end  of  his  faith  :  these  are  '  the  things 
of  Christ,'  which  are  placed  by  the  Spirit  before  the  eye 
of  the  mind,  and  along  with  which  he  passes  in,  and  dif- 
fuses himself  through  the  whole  soul.  He  would  silence 
every  other  sound,  but  that  which  emanates  from  these 
speaking  truths  ;  and  cast  a  veil  over  all  other  objects,  that 
the  soul  might  be  secluded  and  left  to  the  undisturbed  in- 
fluence of  this  new  creation.  He  would  have  it  awake  to 
the  sound  of  music,  to  the  music  of  the  Saviour's  voice  of 
love.  He  would  have  it  to  inhale  the  knowledge  of  Christ 


I 


188  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

like  fragrance ;  to  imbibe  holiness  insensibly,  as  from  a 
surrounding  element;  and  heavenly  dispositions,  like  mel- 
odies, stealing  into  the  heart  from  a  distance.  While 
'forming  Christ  within  the  hope  of  glory,'  he  would  come 
upon  the  soul  with  a  grateful  over-shadowing,  and  operate 
-only  through  the  medium  of  the  affections. 

IV.  The  absolute  necessity  of  regeneration  by  the  Holy 
Spirit  comes  to  us  under  the  great  seal  of  our  Lord's  most 
solemn  asseveration  repeatedly  affixed ;  '  Amen,  amen,  I 
say  unto  you ;  I,  who  not  merely  desire  to  speak  the  truth, 
but  who  am  the  truth;  I,  who  am  the  amen,  the  faithful 
and  true  witness;  who,  having  come  from  heaven,  am  ac- 
quainted with  the  character  of  such  as  are  allowed  to  enter 
it ;  I,  who  hold  the  keys  of  that  kingdom,  I  say  unto  you, 
Except  a  man  be  born  of  water  and  of  the  spirit,  he  can- 
not enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.' 

It  is  the  property  of  every  form  of  created  power  inces- 
santly to  labor  to  subdue  all  things  to  itself.  The  stagna- 
tion of  the  universe  is  prevented  by  this  unremitting  strug- 
gle. The  revolution  of  the  planets  is  maintained  by  the 
perpetual  contest  of  two  principles,  each  of  which  is  always 
•equal  to  cope  with,  but  never  able  to  master  the  other, 
All  the  activity  and  life  of  nature  are  to  be  traced  to  the 
•unwearied  contention  of  its  various  elements ;  each  seek- 
ing to  overpower  and  assimilate  the  rest  to  itself,  but  itself 
acted  on  in  return  by  so  equal  a  force,  that  incessant  con- 
flict is  made  incessant  harmony.  In  the  intellectual  world, 
a  law  of  our  nature  is  always  at  work,  striving,  by  a  syn- 
thesis of  comparison  and  arrangement,  to  reduce  all  knowl- 
edge, physical,  philosophical,  and  religious,  all  to  one 
compact  system.  The  mind  (perhaps  unconsciously)  is 
laboring  after  this  by  a  necessity  of  nature,  in  all  its  search- 
ings  after  analogies,  and  attempts  at  generalization-  it  acts 


H  I  S    O  HI  G  I  N  A  L  I  T  Y.  1 89 

on  the  mental  instinct,  that  truth  is  but  one  idea,  one  infin- 
ite  whole,  the  product  of  one  reason ;  and  to  this  state  of 
unity  it  is  constantly  aiming  to  reduce  all  its  concep- 
tions and  knowledge,  as  the  only  state  in  which  the  whole 
of  its  knowledge  can  be  mastered.  Now  the  same  repre- 
sentation holds  true  of  the  moral  world.  The  will  is  per- 
petually aggressive,  laboring  to  conquer  and  convert  all 
things  around  it  to  its  own  purposes,  and  to  change  them 
into  its  own  nature.  But  here  the  conflict,  as  far  as  it  is 
instigated  by  Satan  the  great  rebel,  and  actuated  by  sin, 
is  direct  hostility  against  God.  It  is  not  carried  on  in 
subordination  to  established  law,  as  the  elemental  conflicts 
of  nature  are  :  nor  in  obedience  to  the  immediate  mandates 
of  heaven,  as  the  ministries  of  angels  are;  but  in  direct 
hostility  against  God.  It  arms  the  understanding  against 
the  dictates  of  revelation  ;  and  the  passions  against  the  pu- 
rity and  self-denial  of  the  divine  requirements;  and  the 
will  against  'all  that  is  called  God, and  that  is  worshipped  ;' 
it  arms  every  member  as  an  instrument  of  unrighteousness, 
and  precipitates  the  whole  man  into  the  battle-field  occupied 
by  trie  hostile  forces  of  good  and  evil. 

But  happiness  is  the  coincidence  of  the  finite  will  with 
the  infinite;  in  other  words,  it  is  holiness.  And  who 
would  wish  to  be  happy  at  the  price  of  that?  who  ;  what 
rational  or  enlightened  being  would  desire  to  be  happy  at 
the  expense  of  the  divine  character  and  government  ?  at 
the  sacrifice  of  seeing  the  creature  erected  above  the  Crea- 
tor? But  though  all  the  universe  should  desire  the  enor- 
mity, it  could  not  be  :  for  happiness,  we  repeat,  is  nothing 
more,  and  nothing  less,  than  the  coincidence  of  the  finite 
will  with  the  infinite.  That  infinite  will,  in  the  person  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  is  come  into  the  world,  expressly  to  sub- 
due all  things  to  himself:  for  shall  he  alone,  he  the  Su- 
preme Mind,  be  inactive;  he,  whose  t-very  movement  is 


190  THE      ORE  AT       TEACHER. 

along  the  line  of  right,  whose  every  conquest  is  the  recov- 
ery of  his  own,  and  his  every  breath  the  creation  and  diffu- 
sion of  happiness  1  No  ;  he  seeks  to  remedy  the  errors  of 
the  mind,  by  becoming  the  one  reason  of  every  individual 
understanding:  to  correct  the  selfishness  of  every  separate 
heart,  by  becoming  the  centre  and  law  of  all  mankind — 
the  one  heart  for  the  whole  colossal  mass  of  humanity. 
The  primitive  church  presents  us  with  an  instance  of  his 
uncounteracted  agency;  'the  whole  multitude  of  them 
that  believed  were  of  one  heart,  and  of  one  mind;'  on 
them  his  agency  took  full  effect;  he  became  the  heart  of 
the  whole  community,  and  every  particular  pulae  found  its 
health  by  beating  in  unison  with  it.  Until  he  works,  each 
individual  human  spirit  is  striving  to  be  a  centre  of  influ- 
ence to  itself;  but  harmonious  subordination  to  the  Supreme 
Spirit  is  happiness,  is  heaven  ;  and  hence  the  absolute  ne- 
cessity of  coming  under  his  subjecting  and  transforming 
power,  in  order  to  the  enjoyment  of  heaven. 

V.  The  happy  result  of  regeneration  by  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  the  production  of  a  corresponding  principle  of 
spiritual  life  ;  '  that  which  is  born  of  the  Spirit,  is  spirit.' 
That  which  he  creates  may  be  material;  but  that  which 
he  begets  in  his  proper  character,  his  moral  capacity,  must 
partake  of  his  nature  and  likeness.  The  possession  of  an 
immortal  spirit  indeed,  is  common  to  all  men ;  for  '  there 
is  a  spirit  in  man,  and  the  inspiration  of  the  Almighty 
hath  given  him  understanding.'  But  it  is  in  the  power  of 
sin  to  erect  the  material  part  of  our  nature  into  a  state  of 
dominion  over  the  spiritual;  to  dethrone  the  soul,  and  give 
it  in  captivity  to  the  flesh:  and,  in  this. unnatural  state,  the 
mind  is  degraded  with  the  name  of  its  material  tyrant  and 
is  called  a  fleshly  mind.  Now  it  is  the  glory  of  the  Di- 
ine  Regenerator,  that  he  turns  this  flesh  into  spirit ;  he  be- 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  191 

comes  a  soul  to  our  sou],  lifting  it  out  of  its  materiality, 
and  restores  to  it  again  its  lost  prerogative  of  dominion. 
He  makes  it  spirit. 

And,  in  restoring  it  to  the  exercise  of  its  peculiar  func- 
tions, he  is  said  to  give  it  life.  As  long  as  it  is  held  in 
subjection  to  the  flesh,  it  is  represented  as  being  dead  while 
it  lives ;  but  by  breathing  upon  it,  he  restores  it.  again  to 
the  life  of  God.  Henceforth,  it  not  only  lives  itself,  but 
throws  a  life  into  all  its  spiritual  exercises,  and  is  dissatisfi- 
ed unless  God  infuses  a  life  into  all  its  religious  privileges. 
In  the  enjoyment  of  this  new-found  existence,  it  pants  after 
God,  can  be  satisfied  with  nothing  less  than  divine  com- 
munication, and  seeks  to  receive  its' nourishment  from  the 
hand  of  God.  One  of  the  distinctive  characters  of  phys- 
ical life,  is  its  powers  of  assimilating  materials  of  different 
natures  to  its  own  substance;  like  that,  the  regenerated 
soul  is  endowed  with  the  power  of  converting  the  various 
events  of  time  into  the  mysterious  means  of  its  nourish- 
ment, and  even  of  turning  obstacles  into  its  own  form  and 
character.  As  its  divine  Author  puts  forth  his  power  to 
produce  it,  so  it  proclaims  its  descent,  and  honors  its  par- 
entage, by  putting  forth  a  corresponding  power  in  its  en- 
deavors after  holiness.  At  times,  indeed,  its  possessor  may 
utter  a  complaint  of  impotence,  '  that  when  he  would  do 
good,  evil  is  present  with  him ;'  but  so  probably  he  would 
complain,  were  his  spiritual  strength  considerably  greater 
than  it  is.  The  complaint  is  ofte,n  to  be  regarded,  not  so 
much  as  an  evidence  of  weakness,  as  a  sign  of  that  dissatis- 
faction with  every  thing  short  of  perfection,  which  is  a 
distinguishing  feature  of  the  spiritual  life;  being  born 
from  above,  it  pants  after  the  perfection  of  its  native  region, 
it  essays  to  rise,  and  is  impatient  of  everything  which  im- 
pedes its  aspirations,  and  detains  its  flight.  It  feels  the  at- 
traction of  that  supreme  central  good  to  which  all  goodness 


J  92  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

gravitates;  and,  like  the  earth,  which  is  always  laboring 
in  its  onward  course  to  gain  the  sun,  it  is  always  striving1 
to  reach  its  centre :  to  escape  beyond  all  the  influences  of 
sin,  and  to  attain  the  region  of  heavenly  life.  And  it 
demonstrates  its  celestial  descent,  by  persevering  in  its  aim 
till  it  triumphs.  The  divine  Spirit,  who  begot  it,  will  not 
more  certainly  triumph  over  all  the  array  of  sin  which 
the  world  contains,  and  cast  it  out;  than  the  new  principle 
of  regenerated  life  will  continue  to  work,  till  it  has  expel- 
led sin  from  the  soul,  and  is  conducted  victorious,  into  the 
presence  of  its  Divine  Parent. 

The  name  which  the  Divine  Regenerator  prefers,  and  by 
which  he  chooses  most  frequently  to  make  himself  known, 
is  the  Holy  Spirit.  It  is  owing  to  his  love  for  holiness, 
and  his  ability  to  produce  it,  that  he  has  undertaken  th.e 
office  of  changing  the  human  heart.  If  he  wrere  not  cer- 
tain that  he  should  renew  the  soul  and  assimilate  it  to  his 
own  holy  nature,  he  would  not  come  into  contact  with  an 
object  so  polluted,  and  depraved,  and  unlike  himself.  But 
'that  which  is  born  of  the  Spirit,  is  spirit;'  and,  as  the 
offspring  of  infinite  holiness,  it  so  completely  possesses  the 
believer  with  a  desire  for  sanctity,  that  he  rejoices  in  tribu- 
lation, accepts  the  furnace,  and  exults  in  the  flames,  if  by 
passing  through  them,  he  may  lose  his  impurity,  and 
emerge  in  the  likeness  of  God. 

Like  its  spiritual  progenitor,  the  renewed  spirit  must 
have  an  unconfined  range.  It  is  made  free  of  the  universe 
and  eternity,  and  cannot  submit  its  diffusive  benevolence  to 
the  restriction  of  limits.  Without  deserting  the  concen- 
tric circles  of  self,  and  family,  and  party,  and  country,  and 
contemporaries,  it  goes  forth,  expatiating  and  rejoicing  in 
a  sphere  which  encompassses  all  these,  and  which  itself 
knows  no  circumference.  As  an  organized  part  of  uni- 
versal bein£,  it  seeks  to  diffuse  and  multiply  itself  through 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  193 

all  the  mass,  by  the  circulation  of  unlimited  happiness. 
Beyond  the  confined  range  which  it  labors  to  fill  with  its 
own  personal  activity,  it  seeks  to  be  present,  not  merely  in 
aim  and  affectionate  desire,  but  by  engaging  the  gracious 
agency  of  its  infinite  Author.  Thus  it  makes  an  ap- 
proximation to  universal  love:  imitates  the  infinity  of  the 
divine  goodness;  and  is  distinguished  by  a  subordinate 
omnipresence  of  benevolence.  By  drinking  of  the  water 
which  Jesus  gives — '  this  spake  he  of  the  Spirit' — it  pos- 
sesses within  itself 'a  well  of  water  springing  up  to  ever- 
lasting life.7  Though  it  shall  be  cut  off  from  all  created 
streams,  it  has  a  fountain  of  its  own,  fed  from  a  higher 
fountain:  a  perpetual  spring  in  immediate  communication 
\vith  the  well-head  of  life.  Its  alliance  with  the  Infinite 
Spirit  raises  it  to  a  st  ite  of  independence  of  the  creature, 
confers  on  it  a  kind  of  spiritual  self-sufficiency.  And,  final- 
ly, as  nothing  but  God  could  satisfy  God,  so  the  renewed 
soul  demonstrates  its  divine  descent  by  disdaining,  as  empti- 
ness and  insult,  less  than  the  fulness  of  him  that  filleth  all 
in  all. 

That,  indeed,  which  is  born  spirit  of  Spirit,  is  necessari- 
ly limited  in  its  likeness  to  God  by  the  natural  and  strait- 
ened conditions  of  humanity.  It  has  nothing  in  common 
with  some  of  the  attributes  of  its  divine  Parent ;  for,  ab- 
stractly considered,  they  are  incommunicable.  It  has 
little  more  than  a  name  in  common  with  any  of  his  attri- 
butes ;  for  the  holiness,  the  wisdom,  the  goodness  which  it 
derives  from  him,  are  infinitely  less  than  the  same  qualities 
as  possessed  by  him.  But  though  it  does  not  possess  an 
identity  of  nature  with  these  attributes,  it  is  its  glory  that  it 
can  boast  a  likeness,  a  similitude  which  takes  in  every  lin- 
eament of  his  moral  image.  It  is  true,  that  his  nature 
obliges  him  to  produce  some  things  in  us,  in  consequence 
of  our  depravity,  of  which  there  is  no  archetype  in  him- 
self; yet  even  these  peculiar  features  are  the  counterparts 
12 


194  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

the  necessary  impressions  of  certain  parts  of  his  own 
character.  Repentance,  for  instance,  is  one  of  the  first 
fruits  of  his  renewing  operations :  but  repentance  in  us, 
answers  to  holiness  in  him  ;  it  is  only  the  process  by  which 
infinite  purity  is  seeking  to  reflect  and  behold  its  image  in 
our  breast. 

The  new  creature  is  an  entire  impression  ;  an  imperfect 
and  a  miniature  representation,  it  is  allowed  :  but  still  an 
entire  impression  of  its  spiritual  Author.  All  the  excel- 
lencies necessary  to  make  up  absolute  perfection,  do  not 
more  certainly  reside  in  the  character  of  the  Spirit  him- 
self, than  all  the  corresponding  qualities,  necessary  to  make 
up  the  sum  of  sanctified  excellence,  exist  in  that  which  is 
born  of  the  Spirit.  When  the  prophet  restored  the  dead 
youth  to  life,  he  did  not  more  carefully  extend  himself  over 
the  whole  surface  of  the  body,  adjusting  his  eyes,  and 
mouth,  and  hands,  to^he  corresponding  parts  and  organs 
of  the  deceased,  that  the  whole  body  might  revive,  than 
the  divine  Spirit  joins  bosoms,  applies  himself  in  regenera- 
tion to  every  part  of  .our  moral  being,  to  resuscitate  and 
restore  the  whole.  He  leaves  no  dead  or  palsied  part ;  but, 
diffusing  life  and  activity  through  the  entire  frame,  he 
would  have  us  to  develope  and  work  out  every  principle 
and  function  of  our  new  nature  in  the  service  of  God. 
Or,  to  use  a  scriptural  figure,  he  delivers  the  so;ul  into  a 
mould  from  which  it  cannot  fail  to  receive  the  unmaimed 
and  entire  impression  of  a  man  in  Christ  Jesus. 

VI.  And  our  Lord  predicted,  as  the  crowning  effect  of 
the  operations  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  'He  shall  glorify  me ; ' 
a  prediction  which  is  realized  in  various  ways.  The  ad- 
vent of  the  Spirit,  in  the  cause  of  Christ,  was  itself  an 
event  which  conferred  on  that  cause  transcendant  honor. 
Had  myriads  of  angels  been  dispatched  instead,  to  fly 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  195 

through  the  midst  of  heaven,  preaching  the  everlasting 
gospel  to  the  inhabitant's  of  the  earth,  even  that  would  have 
given  us  lofty  ideas  of  the  exaltation  of  Christ;  but  that 
the  infinite  Spirit  himself  should  have  come  at  his  inter, 
cession,  and  in  his  service,  this  indeed  glorifies  Christ.  That 
he  should  come  expressly  to  convince  men,  not  merely 
that  they  are  sinners,  but  that  they  are  sinners  especially 
against  Christ ;  and  not  merely  so,  but  that  the  sin  of  re, 
jecting  him  is  the  greatest  sin  they  can  commit ;  that  it  is 
the  master  sin,  the  capital  offence  of  the  longest  life  of  im- 
piety including  the  essence,  and  surpassing  the  guilt  of  all 
other  sins  combined  together;  how  unspeakably  is  Jesus 
magnified  by  this  act  of  the  Spirit ! 

He  engages  to  renovate  the  soul  through  the  medium  of 
truth;  now  what  honor  does  he  confer  upon  Christ,  that 
he  should  pass  by  all  other  kinds  of  truth,  and  should  take 
that,  and  employ  that  only  which  relates  to  Christ.  Does 
he  not  thus  teach  us,  by  his  own  example,  to  count  all 
things  but  loss  for  the  excellency  of  the  knowledge  of 
Christ  Jesus  our  Lord?  Does  he  not  say  to  us,  inactions 
louder  than  words,  *  This  is  the  sum  of  all  science:  this  is 
the  only  knowledge  that  can  incorporate  and  mingle  with 
your  being;  this  is  life  eternal,  to  know  the  true  God,  and 
Jesus  Christ  whom  he  hath  sent ;'  and  all  other  knowledge 
is  real  only  so  far  as  it  is  symbolical  of  this.  He  under- 
takes to  change  the  heart ;  to  produce  in  the  will,  where 
all  the  strength  of  man  and  all  the  powers  of  sin  are  con- 
centrated and  entrenched,  an  entire  revolution  ;  a  work  so 
great,  that  to  create  a  human  being  is  represented  as  easy 
in  comparison ;  for  it  is  not  merely  to  evolve  something 
out  of  nothing,  but  to  produce  a  contrary  from  a  contrary, 
to  bring  light  out  of  darkness,  love  out  of  enmity,  holiness 
out  of  essential  impurity;  and  kence,  to  mark  the  on> 
nipotence,  -the  infinite  outgoing  of  power  which  the  work 


196  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

demands,  the  day  in  which  he  does  this  is  called  '  the  day 
of  his    power.'     Now  what  honor    does  he   confer  upon 
Christ,  that  without  employing  any  force,   without    doing 
any  violence  to  the  constitution  of  the  soul,  he  should  effect 
this  mighty  change,  which   angels  cannot  behold  without 
bursting  into  a  raptuie  of  admiration,  by  simply  taking  of 
the  things  of  Christ  and  showingrthem  to  the  soul.     He 
asks  for  no   other  weapons   than  these   weapons  of  love, 
these  things    of  Christ.     As  if  he  should  say, '  Give  me 
these  ;  and  I   will   change  the  sinner  into  a  saint.     Arm 
me  with  these;  and  I  will  pass  into  his  soul  as  the  antag- 
onist of  sin,  disturbing  and  tracking  it  in  all  its  windings, 
and  expelling  it  from  all  its   recesses:   I  will    change   his 
pride  into  humility  ;  his  enmity  and  unbelief  into  faith  and 
love.     And  I  will  do  this   by  illapses  so  gentle,  by  a  pro- 
cess so   natural,  and  so  coincident  with  the   operations  of 
his  own  mind,  that,  were  not  the  effects  essentially  divine, 
he  would  deem  the  agency  that  effected   it  essentially  hu- 
man.'    He  engages  to  conduct  the  soul  to  happiness;  to 
merit  at  his  hands  the  name  of  the  comforter.     How  does 
he  magnify  Christ  then,  by  leading  the  sinner  direct  into 
the  presence  of  Christ,  as  the  only  method  of  fulfilling  his 
engagement ;  confessing,  by  the  act,  that  apart  from  Christ 
even  he  could  not  give  the  soul  comfort. 

la  the  prosecution  of  his  work,  the  divine  Spirit  em- 
ploys a  model  to  which  to  conform  the  renewed  soul ;  for, 
as  he  finds  the  character  of  man  depraved,  deformed,  and 
awfully  unlike  wrhat  it  should  be,  he  proposes  to  give  it 
beauty,  and  excellence,  and  perfection.  What  honor  then 
does  he  confer  upon  Christ,  by  making  him  the  pattern  after 
which  he  works,  the  model  by  which  he  moulds  and  fash- 
ions all  believers.  He  takes  of  the  things  of  Christ  and 
shows  them  to  the  soul,  expressly  that  it  may  catch  their 
temper  and  likeness.  He  holds  before  its  eye  the  mir- 


HIS       ORIGINAL  I-TY.  197 

ror  of  the  gospel,  that  beholding  as  in  a  glass  the  glory 
of  the  Lord,  it  may  he  changed  into  the  same  image.  Ef- 
facing from  the  soul  the  image  of  the  earthy,  he  imprints 
in  its  stead  the  likeness  of  the  Lord  from  heaven :  nor 
does  he  count  the  work  complete,  till  the  soul  is  complete- 
ly conformed  to  the  perfect  model. 

And  the  Holy  Spirit  glorifies  Christ  hy  rendering  him 
the  object  of  supreme  affection  and  delight  to  all  believers. 
The  uniform  effect  of  his  teaching  is,  that  they  '  rejoice  in 
Christ  Jesus.'  They  distinctly  see  that  there  never  was 
any  righteousness  in  the  world  but  his;  that  there  is  no 
excellence  in  the  universe  except  his,  and  what  is  derived 
from  him.  They  feel  therefore  that,  while  there  is  no  sin 
equal  to  that  of  disregarding  him,  there  can  be  no  act 
which  harmonizes  with  so  many  of  the  original  and  best 
principles  of  our  nature,  or  which  is  so  much  of  an  occa- 
sion of  joy,  as  that  of  receiving  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord. 
When  the  Spirit  was  poured  out  from  on  high,  the  church 
was  flooded  with  light;  but,  like  the  angel  standing  in  the 
sun,  the  central  object  of  that  light  was  Christ;  the  church 
was  thrown  into  a  transport  of  joy,  but  the  subject  of  that 
joy  was  Christ ;  his  name  was  on  every  tongue,  his  love 
filled  every  heart.  And  wherever  the  divine  Spirit  ope- 
rates, the  same  supreme  delight  in  Christ  invariably  en- 
sues. He  comes  to  herald  the  way  for  Christ:  to  throw 
open  the  temple  gates  of  the  heart  for  the  reception  of 
Christ;  to  announce  the  titles,  and  display  the  excellencies 
of  Christ;  that  the  soul,  beholding  the  glory  of  its  royal 
guest,  may  receive  him  with  acts  of  worship,  and  accla- 
mations of  delight.  And  having  admitted  Christ,  the  be- 
liever discovers  that  he  has  admitted  God  ;  the  all-com- 
prehending fulness  of  God.  Henceforth  he  can  never  lift 
his  eye  towards  him,  but  his  heart  assumes  a  posture  of 
.complacent  adoration  and  joy  ;  and,  when  he  has  been  in> 


198  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

ploririg  and  putting  himself  under  the  influence  of  the 
blessed  Spirit,  the  name  of  Christ  fills  his  soul  with  light? 
and  glory.  It  is  a  name  which  has  an  attraction  for  every 
thing  great  and  good  in  the  universe.  The  eye  does  not 
more  rapidly  sweep  the  midnight  magnificence  of  the 
starry  heavens,  than  the  renewed  mind,  at  the  mention  of 
his  name,  makes  the  circuit  of  creation  gathering  up  all 
that  is  glorious  in  its  course,  as  related  to  him,  and  em- 
blematic of  his  excellence. 

But  this  prediction  looks  forward  to  a  more  glorious 
fulfillment  than  any  which  he  has  yet  received  ;  a  period 
when  the  Holy  Spirit  shall  glorify  Christ  in  these  various 
respects,  not  merely  in  the  conversion  of  a  sinner  here  and 
there,  but  when  the  sphere  of  his  operations  shall  embrace 
the  world  ;  when  he  shall  become  the  soul  of  the  world, 
the  great  animating  spirit  of  mankind,  leading  them  as 
with  one  heart  and  one  hand  to  crown  the  Saviour,  Lord 
of  all.  But  the  prediction  is  of  greater  compass  still ;  it 
teaches  us  to  look  onward  to  the  period,  when  Jesus  '  shall 
come  to  be  admired  in  his  saints,  and  glorified  in  all  them 
that  believe.'  He  determines  that  he  will  reap  a  large 
harvest  of  human  hearts,  of  sanctified  affections;  and  he 
has  sent  the  Spirit  into  the  world  to  collect  this  revenue,  to 
gather  up  this  glory  for  him  ;  and  then  the  Spirit  will  have 
completed  his  task,  will  have  glorified  Christ:  for  it  will 
then  be  seen  that  he  has  clothed  every  believer  in  the 
righteousness  of  Christ ;  renewed  them  all  after  the  like- 
ness of  Christ ;  that  with  no  other  instrument  to  work  with 
than  the  gospel  of  Christ,  he  has  operated  on  a  vast  mass 
of  depravity,  on  a  multitude  which  no  one  can  number  of 
sinful  souls,  and  has  renewed  and  made  them  resplendent, 
and  crowned  them  with  the  glory  of  Christ. 

VII.     Such  is   a  somewhat  connected  view  of  the  prin- 
cipal original  truths,  with  which  the  Great  Teacher  enrich- 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  199 

ed  his  church,  concerning  the  operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
I  will  point  attention  also  to  two  or  three  isolated  declara- 
tions, calculated  to  show  the  importance  of  receiving  his 
influence,  as  well  as  to  give  a  practical  application  to  the 
preceding  remarks. 

'  Verily.,  I  say  unto  you,  All  manner  of  sin  andblasphe- 
my  shall  be  forgiven  unto  men  ;  but  the  blasphemy 
against  the  Holy  Ghost  shall  not  be  forgiven  unto  men. 
And  whosoever  speaketh  a  word  against  the  Son  of  man, 
it  shall  be  forgiven  him:  but  whosoever  speaketh  against 
the  Holy  Ghost,  it  shall  not  be  forgiven  him,  neither  in 
this  world,  neither  in  the  world  to  come.'  What  form  of 
denunciation  can  be  conceived  more  calculated  than  this 
to  warn  the  trifler  that  he  is  on  holy  ground,  and  to  bespeak 
for  the  whole  doctrine  of  divine  influence  the  reverence  of 
a  prostrate  soul.  The  sin  denounced  is  probably,  the  rejec- 
tion of  the  last  and  greatest  evidence  of  the  Messiahship  of 
Christ ;  the  dispensation  of  the  Spirit.  Up  to  that  point 
of  unbelief,  the  Jews  were  within  the  reach  of  forgiveness. 
Their  blasphemy  against  Christ;  their  rejection  of  all  the 
evidence  arising  from  his  character,  his  miracles,  the  testi- 
mony of  John,  and  the  distinct  fulfillment  in  him  of  nu- 
merous prophecies  ;  even  the  act  of  nailing  him  to  the 
cross;  all  this  did  not  consummate  their  guilt,  and  render 
their  condition  hopeless.  It  was,  indeed,  approaching  as 
near  to  the  edge  of  the  precipice  as  possible  without  actu- 
ally falling  over.  It  was  closing  their  eyes  against  evidence 
which  ought  to  have  convinced  them  that  Christ  was  the 
Messiah  ;  but  still  there  was  further  evidence  to  be  submit- 
ted to  them,  and  evidence  of  a  superior  kind.  The  mirac- 
ulous dispensation  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  attesting  as  it  would 
his  resurrection  from  the  dead,  and  his  exaltation  at  the 
right  hand  of  God,  and  bringing  as  it  would  the  right  arm 
of  Omnipotence  visibly  to  certify  his  claims,  was  reserved 


200  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

for  that  closing  proof.  Till  that  should  be  found  unavail- 
ing, their  impenitence  could  not  be  pronounced  final.  But 
should  they  reject  that,  they  would  be  resisting  the  last 
proof  that  would  be  given,  that  Christ  is  the  Son  of  God, 
and  ihe  Saviour  of  sinners ;  with  their  own  hands  they 
would  have  subscribed  the  sentence  which  doomed  them  to 
perdition  ;  they  would  have  added  the  final  shade  of  hor- 
ror to  their  condition,  anticipating  'the  blackness  of  dark- 
ness for  ever.' 

But  let  the  specific  sin  denounced  be  what  it  may  ;  and 
possibly  it  is  left  indeterminate,  that  it  may  shed  a  caution- 
ary influence  over  a  larger  space;  the  denunciation  sur- 
rounds the  doctrine  of  divine  influence  with  a  guard,  as 
terrific  as  the  barriers  placed  about  the  mount  that  burned. 
It  has  no  parallel  in  the  word  of  God :  and  is  only  infe- 
rior, in  its  power  to  inspire  dread,  to  the  awful  sentence  of 
the  last  day.  Where  all  besides  is  pleasant  as  the  garden 
of  the  Lord,  it  stands  out  a  terrible  anomaly — a  volcano 
fast  by  the  tree  of  life.  He  who  incurs  is  terrors,  is  hence- 
forth an  outcast  from  grace;  a  proclaimed  anathema;  de- 
voted to  damnation;  the  heir  of  unknown  treasures  of 
wrath.  Reader,  as  you  would  dread  to  take  even  the  first 
step  in  the  direction  of  this  tremendous  sin  ;  as  you  would 
tremble  to  think  of  entering  into  its  mountainous  shadow  ; 
trifle  with  nothing  \vhich  relates  to  the  agency  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  That  agency  is  truly  'for  your  life.'  Sin  has 
brought  you  into  the  crisis  of  the  second  death  ;  and  his  is 
the  only  hand  that  can  apply  the  only  remedy.  In  his 
oners  and  influence,  God  may  be  regarded  as  collecting  up 
all  that  is  gracious  and  solemn  in  the  vast  economy  of  re- 
demption, and  coming  to  bring  the  whole,  ,as  far  as  you  are 
concerned,  to  an  issue;  as  making  his  nearest  and  final 
approach  to  your  spirit:  as  you  value  eternal  life,  then, 
let  there  be  no  symptom  of  disinclination  to  receive  him. 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  201 

But  this  is  not  enough;  when  he  spoke  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  the  Saviour  would  have  his  disciples  to  lift  up  their 
thoughts,  to  enlarge  their  expectations,  and  form  the  loftiest 
conceptions  of  excellence  and  grace  ;  declaring,  that  the 
advent  of  the  Spirit  would  more  than  compensate  for  the 
loss  of  his  own  personal  presence.  What  must  he  the 
value  of  that  gift  which  would  supply  the  place  of  the  orb 
of  day,  and  make  us  cease  to  deplore  his  extinction  i  Of 
infinitely  surpassing  value  must  be  the  gift  which  could 
indemnify  the  church  for  the  personal  departure  of  its 
Sovereign  Lord.  Yet  such  a  gift  is  the  Holy  Spirit ;  the 
soul  of  the  church,  and  the  life  of  the  world  :  for  so  much 
of  the  Spirit  as  there  is  in  the  world,  precisely  so  much, 
and  no  more,  is  there  of  life. 

In  the  history  of  the  natural  creation,  it  is  recorded  that 
until  he  brooded  upon  the  face  of  the  waters,  the  earth  was 
without  form  and  void  ;  but  he  infused  into  it  a  vital  ele- 
ment ;  and  what  a  world  of  beauty  arose !  an  enlargement 
of  heaven;  the  treasury  and  temple  of  the  material  uni- 
verse. And,  until  he  came  into  the  new  creation,  the  work 
of  salvation  was  at  a  stand.  The  sacrifice  for  sin  had  been 
offered  :  the  atonement  accepted  ;  all  the  elements  of  sal- 
vation wrere  in  existence,  but  without  life;  all  the  blessings 
of  grace  were  ready,  but  the  Spirit  was  waming  to  convey 
them  into  the  soul.  And  when  he  came,  and  commenced 
his  office,  what  glories  transpired  !  The  Saviour  had  not 
merely  foreseen  these  ;  his  holy  mind  had  often  luxuriated 
in  the  scene,  had  dwelt  with  unimaginable  delight  on  the 
prospect  of  the  Spirit  returned  to  the  world,  and  employed 
in  its  renovation.  The  valley  of  dry  bones  was  around 
him ;  the  place  he  inhabited  was  a  moral  sepulchre :  but 
he  saw  the  Spirit  about  to  become  the  soul  of  these  slain, 
to  breathe  into  them  a  higher  order  of  life  than  they  had 
yet  lived,  enabling  them  to  do  divine  exploits,  to  defy  and 


20:2  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

triumph  over  death.  Before  him  lay  stretched  out,  wher- 
ever he  turned,  an  ocean  of  woe,  brackish  with  human  tears  ; 
the  Dead  Sea,  embittering,  poisoning,  and  turning  to  ashes 
the  fairest  fruits  of  earth  ;  and  exhaling  vapors  fatal  to  all 
human  joys.  But  he  saw  the  divine  Spirit;  the  waters  of 
prophetic  vision  ;  issuing  forth  from  the  sanctuary  of  hea- 
ven, a  new  element  of  life;  'going  down  into  the  desert, 
and  into  the  sea,  to  heal  the  waters.  And  it  came  to  pass 
that  the  waters  were  healed,  and  every  thing  lived  whither 
the  river  came.' 

Humanity,  to  his  view,  appeared  as  one  body,  one  migh- 
ty growth  and  stature  of  sin,  demoniacally  possessed  by 
the  prince  of  the  power  of  the  air,  and  putting  forth  all  its 
gigantic  powers  in  exploits  of  evil.  But  he  saw  the  power 
of  his  exorcism  at  hand  and  rejoiced  ;  '  Now,'  said  he,  'is 
the  judgment  of  this  world  ;  now  shall  the  prince  of  this 
world  be  cast  out.'  He  beheld  human  nature  released 
from  the  foe  whose  name  is  legion ;  renewed  in  all  its 
powers;  raised  to  a  holy  rivalship  with  angels;  and  pre- 
pared to  be  the  ornament  of  a  new  creation  ;  and  all  this 
resulting  from  the  ad  vent  and  operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
The  profound  complacency  with  which  he  dwelt  on  the 
vision,  evidently  showed  that  he  deemed  nothing  too  great 
to  be  expected  from  the  coming  of  the  divine  Spirit ;  and 
that  he  desired  to  communicate  to  his  disciples  his  own 
enthusiasm,  to  fill  ,them  with  anticipations  as  enlarged  and 
glowing  as  his  own. 

He  intimates  that,  of  all  the  gifts  which  we  can  solicit, 
or  he  impart,  a  greater  cannot  be  named  than  the  donation 
of  his  Spirit.  *  If  thou  knewest  the  gift  of  God,  and  who 
it-is  that  saith  unto  thee,  Give  me  to  drink  ;  thou  wouldest 
have  asked  of  him,  and  he  would  have  given  thee  living 
water;'  he  would  have  bestowed  on  thee  the  gift  of  his 
Spirit,  extinguishing  all  thy  wants  at  once,  and  leaving  thee, 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  203 

through  eternity,  nothing  to  crave.  And  who  can  com- 
pute, who  can  exaggerate  the  value  of  this  gift?  Had  we 
originally  classed  with  the  beasts  that  perish,  as  mere  ani- 
mated clay ;  and  had  he  then?  raised  us  in  the  scale  of  be" 
ing  by  adding  our  immaterial  and  immortal  soul ;  we  could 
not  have  looked  back  on  our  brutal  pre-existence,  or  have 
felt  the  consciousness  of  our  new-found  powers  of  mind, 
without  standing  amazed  at  the  greatness  of  the  gift  he  had 
conferred.  But  here  he  speaks  of  a  super-addition.  He 
has  given  to  us  one  spirit ;  but  he  proposes  to  give  ns 
another,  to  make  us  all  the  richer  by  an  additional  Spirit- 
He  has  given  a  soul  to  our  body ;  but  he  would  not  have  us 
to  suppose  that  his  gifts  are  exhausted,  for  he  offers  to  give 
us  a  soul  to  our  soul.  The  spirit  which  he  has  already 
implanted  is  human,  but  that  which  he  has  in  reserve  is 
divine.  And,  to  excite  and  inflame  our  desires,  he  repre- 
sents the  divine  spirit  as  his  crowning  gift;  as  rendering 
any  further  additions  unnecessary,  by  absorbing  all  our 
wants,  and  comprising  the  essence  of  all  good. 

Were  the  natural  influences  of  the  Spirit  to  be  denied 
to  the  material  world,  who  can  paint  the  desolation  which 
would  instantly  ensue  !  its  pleasant  verdure  dried  up  and 
destroyed ;  all  its  harmonies  silenced  ;  its  surface  strewed 
with  the  wrecks  of  what  was  life ;  a  sepulchral  world  en- 
veloped with  a  pall  of  darkness;  a  wandering  star  in 
which  all  things  were  hastening  to  chaos  and  desolation. 
As  the  Spirit  of  grace,  his  agency  is  the  life  of  the  spiritu- 
al world.  Accordingly,  the  chief  penalty  of  the  apostacy, 
the  most  deadly  element  of  the  curse,  was  the  suspension 
and  withdrawment  of  his  vital  presence:  by  which  the 
guilty  and  deserted  soul  was  left  to  enter  at  once  on  eter- 
nal death — to  begin  hell  on  this  side  the  grave.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  follows,  that  the  restoration  of  the  Spirit  is  the 
capital  blessing  .of  the  covenant  of  grace.  As  if  all  the 


204  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

other  blessings  were  represented  by  this,  and  included  in 
it,  the  Saviour  magnifies  and  names  the  Spirit  alone.  While 
in  one  of  the  evangelists,  we  hear  him  offer  all  good  things 
to  them  that  ask  ;  from  another  we  learn  that,  by  this  all- 
comprehending  offer,  he  expressly  intends  his  Holy  Spirit; 
thus  leaving  us  to  infer,  first,  that  universal  good,  arid  the 
Divine  Spirit  define  each  other  ;  or,  that  they  are  one  and  * 
the  same  thing:  and,  secondly,  impressing  us  with  the 
fact,  that  the  Spirit  is  the  only  unchangeable  and  necessa- 
ry good.  Philosophy  teaches  us  that  no  material  object 
on  earth  has  a  color  of  its  own  ;  that,  whatever  the  hue 
which  apparently  belongs  to  any  object,  it  may  be  chang- 
ed ;  and  the  object  be  made  to  take  the  hue  of  all  the  pris- 
matic colors  in  succession.  This  is  true  analogically,  of  all 
the  things  and  events  of  this  life ;  they  are  not  intrinsical- 
ly good  or  evil ;  do  not  possess  a  character  and  complex- 
ion of  their  own.  The  same  dispensation  may  prove  a 
curse  to  one,  and  a  blessing  to  another ;  maybe  an  evil 
to-day,  and  a  good  to-morrow  ;  may  come  as  a  favor,  but 
be  perverted  and  turned  into  poison  by  our  depravity;  or 
may  come  as  a  trial,  and  be  converted  into  food  and  life  by 
the  transforming  touch  and  smile  of  God.  But  the  gra- 
cious influence  of  the  Spirit  is  susceptible  of  no  such  fluc- 
tuation. Impassive  itself,  it  is  yet  capable  of  changing 
every  thing  else;  while  able  to  impress  its  own  character 
on  the  universe  of  being,  it  remains  itself  unchanged  and 
unchangeable ;  the  only  absolute,  eternal,  and  necessary 
good. 

What  more  can  be  necessary  to  turn  our  whole  soul  in- 
to desire?  to  turn  all  our  most  ardent  thoughts  and  long- 
ings into  one  channel,  pouring  forth  a  copious  stream  of 
supplication  for  the  one  great  gift  of  the  Spirit  ?  Is  it  possi- 
ble that  we  can  ask  for  any  inferior  good,  till  we  have  ob- 
tained this  ?  Had  we  an  adequate  impression  of  its  magnitude 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  2051 

we  should  forget  that  any  other  want  existed:  our  entreat- 
ies would  rise  in  energy  and  earnestness  as  we  moved  for- 
ward to  the  attainment  of  the  blessing;  our  cry  would  as- 
cend, and  peal  with  ceaseless  importunity  at  the  gate  of 
heaven :  would  go  in  unto  the  Almighty,  even  into  his  holy 
place;  we  should  ask,  and  seek,  and  knock,  till  he  had 
bestowed  it  with  a  liberality  which  left  nothing  for  our 
fears  to  apprehend,  or  our  expectations  to  desire. 

But  is  there  ground  to  believe  that  our  earnest  applica- 
tion for  this  ineffable  good  would  be  crowned  with  success? 
For,  in  proportion  as  the  value  and  necessity  of  an  object 
rise  in  our  view,  our  demand  for  encouragement  to  pursue 
it  rises  also.  Two  things  are  observable,  in  reply.  The 
first  is,  that  the  gift  of  the  Spirit,  which  is  the  only  indis- 
pensable good,  is  the  only  blessing  which  is  promised  with 
unconditional,  absolute  certainty.  And  the  second  is,  that 
it  is  the  absolute  and  essential  goodness  of  this  blessing 
which  enables  the  Almighty  to  promise  it  unconditionally. 
If,  like  all  subordinate  blessings,  its  character  were  muta- 
ble, and  its  value  dependent  on  circumstances,  like  them  it 
could  only  be  made  the  subject  of  a  conditional  promise ; 
the  mere  mutability  of  its  nature,  and  the  consequent  pos- 
sibility of  its  becoming  an  evil,  would  have  made  it  inca- 
pable of  an  absolue  promise.  But  the  intrinsic  and  im- 
mutable goodness  of  the  gift  enables  the  Divine  Promiser 
to  say  of  it,  what  he  can  say  of  no  inferior  blessing,  'Ask, 
and  ye  shall  receive ;  seek,  and  ye  shall  find  ;  knock  and 
it  shall  be  opened  unto  you.'  • 

The  student  of  mechanical  philosophy  is  aware  that 
dynamics,  or  the  science  of  force  and  motion,  enters  into 
nearly  every  physical  inquiry;  that  it  is  placed  at  the 
head  of  all  the  sciences;  and  that,  happily  for  human 
knowledge,  it  is  one  in  which  certainty  is  attainable  equal 
to  that  of  mathematical  demonstration.  Indeed — what  is 


206  THE      GREAT       TEACHER. 

true  of,  no  other  branch  of  physical  science — our  knowl- 
edge of  dynamics,  of  motion  arid  its  communication,  is  only 
limited  by  that  of  pure  mathematics.  Now  let  our  present 
subject  be  denominated  spiritual  dynamics,  and  the  analo- 
gy of  these  remarks  will  be  obvious.  The  Divine  Spirit 
is  the  author  of  all  motion  in  the  moral  world;  the  science 
of  spiritual  force  and  motion,  originating  in  him,  is  at  the 
head  of  all  the  doctrines  of  evangelical  religion  ;  it  enters 
into  all  our  religious  calculations  ;  and  happily  for  our 
hopes  and  endeavors,  it  is  one  in  which  every  step  may 
be  taken  with  absolute  certainty.  Indeed — what  is  true  of 
no  other  promised  good — the  measure  in  whiph  we  receive 
his  influence  is  determined  only  by  the  measure  of  our  de- 
sires after  it,  or  by  the  limit  of  .our  capacity  to  enjoy  it- 
*  Every  one,'  saith  Christ,  *  that  asketh,  receiveth  ;  and  he 
that  seeketh,  findeth.'  He  would  have  us  observe  that  he 
is  not  propounding  a  theory,  but  stating  a  fact;  that  he  is 
expounding  a  law  of  the  divine  government,  a  law  which 
has  established  a  certain  connection  between  asking  for 
the  Holy  Spirit  and  receiving  it  ;  and  that  could  we  appeal 
to  all  who  have  made  the  experiment,  we  should  find  that 
this  order  was  never  violated ;  that  could  we  interrogate 
each  of  that  throng  without  number  who  have  sought  the 
gift,  they  would  testify  with  one  consent,  that  they  all  re. 
ceived  to  the  utmost  amount  of  their  desires,  and  abund- 
antly more. 

Prior,  indeed,  to  the  act  of  regeneration,  and  as  to  the 
time  and  manner  of  that  event,  the  wind  itself  is  not  more 
uncontrollable  and  free  than  is  the  agency  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  He  illustrates  his  sovereignty  by  acting  where  he 
listeth  ;  asserts  and  magnifies  the  royalty  of  his  grace  by 
selecting  the  most  unlikely  objects,  and  thus  pouring  con- 
tempt on  human  calculations.  But,  in  all  his  subse" 
quent  communications,  he  vsluntarily  binds  himself  to  act 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  207 

by  a  rule  which  man   can  understand  and  employ,  volun- 
tarily subjects  his  influence  to  the  call  oi  prayer  ;  and  in  a 
sense,  resigns  his  sceptre  into  the  hand  of  faith.     Amaz- 
ing- condescension  !   as  if  only  concerned  to  bring  us  to  the 
footstool  of  mercy,  and  as  if  fearful  lest  the  recollection  of  his 
sovereignty  should  deter  us  from  approaching,  he  actually 
merges  that  sovereignty  ;  yes,  at  the  tremendous  risk  of  see- 
ing us  erase  the  doctrine  of  his  absolute  liberty  from  our 
creed,  of  hearing  us  deny  the  sovereignty  of  his  operations, 
he  in  effect  thro\vs  up  the  high  prerogative,  brings  himself 
under  obligation, irrevocably  binds  himself  to  answer  prayer. 
To  encourage  our  application  for  the  Holy  Spirit,  the 
Saviour  appeals  from  the  instinct  of  parental  tenderness,  to 
the  infinite  benevolence  of  our  heavenly  Father.     *  What 
man  is  there  among  you,  who  if  his  son  asked  bread  of  him 
would  give  him  a  stone;  or,  if  he  asked  a  fish  would  give 
him  a  serpent  ? '     Who  would  mock  the  wants  of  his  fam- 
ishing child  ?     The   testimony  of  universal  experience  is 
against  the  probability  of  such  an  act:  the  thing  indeed  is 
possible,  but  so  rare,  that  it  has   never  been  deemed  neces- 
sary to  provide  a  law  for  its  punishment.     So  deeply  does 
parental  affection  enter  into  the  beart,  that  it  commonly  sur- 
vives every  other  benevolent  feeling  ;  it  is  the  last  affection 
which  leaves  the  nature  of  a  bad  man.     'But  if  ye,  being 
evil,  know  how  to  give  good  gifts  unto  your  children,'  said 
Christ ;    *  how  much    more  shall  your  heavenly  Father 
give  his  Holy  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  him  ?'   Could  all  the 
parental  tenderness  which  the  world  has  contained,  from 
the  beginning  of  time  till  now,  be  all  collected  and  infused 
into  one  human  heart,  compared  with  the  unbounded  be- 
nevolence of  our   Father  in  Heaven,  it  would  be  as  a  drop 
compared  with  the  ocean.     And,   therefore,  it  cannot  be 
that  the  needy  and  suppliant  soul  should  plead  for  the  gift 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  his  infinite  goodness  refuse  to  give. 
Degrade  him  to  a  level  with  sinful  humanity,  suppose  hka 


208  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

to  be  only  an  earthly  parent,  still  the  refusal  would  be  all 
but  impossible.  Now  what  a  human  father  will  scarcely 
ever  fail  to  do,  though  he  is  evil ;  God  will  never  fail  to  do, 
because  he  is  ineffably  good. 

But  that  nothing  might  be  wanting  to  complete  our  en- 
couragement and  crown  our  hopes,  our  Lord  represents 
the  treasures  of  divine  influence  as  placed  entirely  at  his 
own  disposal.  And  where  would  Poverty  and  Want  have 
relief  deposited,  if  not  in  the  hands  of  unconfined  Bounty. 
Like  a  channel,  prepared  on  purpose  to  receive  and  con- 
vey the  overflowings  of  a  fountain,  he  receives  only  to  com- 
municate. As  well  might  the  sun  be  charged  with  nig- 
gardliness in  the  dispensa  tion  of  light ;  though  from  the 
moment  of  its  creation,  it  has  been  constantly  pouring  forth, 
in  all  directions,  an  immensity  of  light,  sufficient  to  flood 
with  radiance  ten  thousand  worlds  like  ours  ;  as  to  question 
the  readiness  of  Christ  to  impart  the  influence  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  Let  the  amazing  profusion  with  which  he  dispensed 
it,  on  the  day  of  pentecost,  testify  his  grace.  Religious 
ordinances,  means  of  grace,  a  standing  ministry;  what  are 
these  but  channels  through  which  he  seeks  to  pour  a  con- 
stant supply  of  the  river  of  life  for  the  irrigation  of  his 
church?  what  are  they  but  pillars  which  he  has  reared  as 
memorials  of  his  ascension,  to  remind  us  that  now  we  have 
only  to  ask  in  order  to  receive;  that  he  can  now  dispense 
the  Spirit  perpetually  and  without  measure ;  so  that  every 
day  might  be  a  pemicostal  day,  a  repetition  of  his  corona- 
tion day. 

Having  become  the  repository  of  divine  influence,  his 
only  solicitude  appears  to  arise  from  his  not  finding  recip- 
ients to  share  the  blessing.  As  the  heedless  and  the  worldly 
pass  him  by,  he  calls  to  them  in  language  which  shows 
that  they  could  not  find  more  relief  in  receiving,  than  he 
would  experience  delight  in  giving ;  that  his  benevolent 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  209 

heart  is  actually  burthened  with  the  magnitude  of  the 
gifts  he  has  to  dispense,  and  yearns  for  the  godlike  grat- 
ification of  giving  them  away.  *  O  if  thou  knewest  the  gift 
of  God,  and  who  it  is  that  speaks  to  thee,  thou  wouldest  ask 
him,  and  he  would  give  thee  living  water.  But  ye  will 
not  come  unto  me,  that  ye  might  have  life.  Ask,  and  ye 
shall  receive,'  You  cannot  open  your  eye  on  the  light  of 
day,  but  a  thousand  rays  from  the  sun  instantly  enter  and 
illuminate  your  organ  of  sight ;  you  cannot  inspire,  in  the 
ordinary  act  of  breathing,  without  drawing  in  copiously 
the  vital  air :  repair  at  once  to  the  throne  of  grace,  and  you 
shall  not  raise  a  craving  look  for  the  blessed  Spirit  in.  vain, 
your  eye  shall  attract  him  :  inspire,  draw  in,  and  you  shall 
inhale  at  every  breath  of  earnest  desire,  the  influence  of 
the  Holy  Spirit. 

The  Christian  church  is  a  region,  and  the  only  region 
on  earth,  replenished  with  the  vital  influence  of  the  Holy 
Spirit :  and  by  making  baptism  the  initiatory  ordinance, 
the  Saviour  has  significantly  taught,  that,  while  all  within 
inhale  an  element  of  life,  all  without  are  breathing  an  ele- 
ment of  destruction.  By  appointing  the  rite  to  be  admin- 
istered 'in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,'  he  has  sealed  us  to  the  day  of  redemp- 
tion ;  he  has  burnt  in,  and  made  indelible,  the  awful  signa- 
tures of  Christian  discipleship :  reminding  us,  that,  as 
those  who  have  *  been  born  again  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit,' 
he  has  given  into  our  keeping  a  new  life,  a  life  supernatu- 
ral and  divine:  and  charging  it  on  us,  as  we  hope  to  see 
the  glorious  day  which  is  longed  for  by  all  creation,  that 
we  preserve  that  life  inviolate  and  ungrieved. 

In  allusion  to  the  residence  of  the  Divine  Presence  in 

the  temple,    he  declares  of  the    Spirit    of  truth,   that  '  he 

dwelleth  with  you,  and  shall  be  in  you.'     There  is  a  sense 

in  which  all  the  believers,  of  all   ages,  are  represented  as 

13 


201  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

forming  one  vast  and  compacted  temple,  of  which  the  Ho- 
ly Spirit  is  the  living- soul,  cementing,  animating,  and  per- 
vading the  whole.  Now,  if  important  duties  devolve  on 
you,  though  you  are  only  a  fraction,  an  atom  of  the  stu- 
pendous fabric  inhabited  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  how  momen- 
tous do  your  duties  appear,  when  you  reflect  that  you 
yourself  constitute  an  entire  temple.  The  Jews  had  an  ap- 
pointed guard  to  watch  their  temple,  night,  and  day  ;  and, 
though  the  guard  was  numerous,  each  must  doubtless  have 
felt  that  he  was  entrusted  with  a  solemn  charge.  But  what 
would  one  of  them  have  felt,  had  the  whole  trust  been  de- 
volved on  him  alone;  and  that,  too,  at  a  time  of  peculiar 
danger  from  a  watchful  foe:  how  tremblingly  alive  would 
he  have  been  to  everything  relating  to  his  sacred  charge? 
To  your  my  fellow  Christian,  as  to  a  living  sanctuary,  the 
Spirit  has  been  given,  'that  he  rnay  abide  with  you  for 
ever.'  Reflect  on  his  divine  character  and  gracious  de- 
signs, and  then  conceive,  if  you  can,  of  a  more  sacred  and 
weighty  trust  than  that  of  keeping  his  temple  inviolate. 

Had  you  originally  belonged  to  one  of  the  lowest  spe- 
cies of  animal  life;  and  had  he  raised  you  in  the  scale  of 
being,  multiplying  and  enlarging  your  faculties  from  step 
to  step  till  reason  dawned,  what  a  sense  of  responsibility, we 
may  suppose,  would  have  flashed  on  your  mind  as  you  first 
awoke  to  the  consciousness  of  your  amazing  transformation! 
To  find  yourself  suddenly  endowed  and  entrusted  with  an 
immortal  soul,  rich  in  affections,  strong  in  intellectual  pow- 
ers, boundless  in  its  capabilities  and  desires  ;  the  percep- 
tion of  your  new  accountability  might  well  impress  you 
with  an  awful  concern.  But  a  greater  responsibility  is 
here.  The  Spirit  of  spirits,  the  Fountain  Spirit  himself 
is  given  to  you,  as  a  principle  of  new  and  heavenly  life, 
as'a  divine  in-dvveller,  and  you  have  to  keep  for  him  the 
temple  of  your  soul.  O  then,  see  to  it,  that  your  conduct 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  211 

accords  with  so  sacred  a  trust.  .He  comes  to  you  as  the 
Spirit  of  truth  ;  study  the  mind  of  the  Spirit;  consult  his 
dictates  as  your  living  oracle.  By  yielding  to  the  dictates 
of  the  flesh,  your  spirit  has  lost  its  proper  character,  its 
discriminating  and  determining  moral  power;  but  he  pro- 
poses to  rescue  and  reinforce  your  spiritual  nature  ;  he 
comes  to  be  your  spirit,  to  turn  your  very  flesh  into  spirit, 
renewing  your  fleshly  mind :  do  not  let  it  appear  by  your 
conduct,  as  if,  having  carnalized  your  own  spirit,  you 
would,  if  possible,  carnalize  the  divine  Spirit  also,  placing 
all  spirit  in  subjugation  to  the  flesh.  He  is  the  Comforter  ; 
the  very  soul  of  happiness  ;  do  not  grieve  him  whose  object 
it  is  to  solace  and  bless  you.  Do  not  resist  him  in  the  exe- 
cution of  his  office,  while  engaged  in  cleansing  and  sancti- 
fying his  temple.  Be  not  satisfied  with  merely  not  griev- 
ing the  spirit  of  God ;  but  aspire  to  please  him,  to  magnify 
his  office,  to  enjoy  an  affluence  of  his  grace,  to  live  in  the 
Spirit  as  in  the  hallowed  atmosphere  of  a  temple,  in  an 
all-surrounding  element  of  holiness. 


SECTION    IV. OF  THE  DOCTRINE   OF    THE    TRINITY,  AND 

OF    A    SPIRITUAL    CHURCH. 


AMONG  the  subjects  comprehended  in  our  Lord's  origi- 
nal teaching  may  be  named  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity. 
There  is  no  ground  to  conclude  that,  prior  to  the  promul- 
gation of  the  gospel,  this  doctrine  had  any  claim  on  the 
faith  of  mankind.  The  early  Christians,  indeed,  in  their 
eagerness  to  obtain  for  christianty  the  patronage  of  phi- 
losophy, professed  to  find  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  in  the 


2J2  THE       GREAT       TEACHER, 

writings  of  Plato  ;  but  had  they  maintained  instead  a  dual- 
ity, or  a  quaternity,  the  same  writings  would  have  equal- 
ly befriended  them.  The  humble  pretensions  of  the  Jew- 
ish system  were  satisfied  with  proclaiming  the  existence 
and  unity  or  oneness  of  God,  in  opposition  to  'the 'lords 
many  and  gods  many,'  of  the  heathens ;  the  allusions  which 
the  system  contained  to  the  triplicity  of  the  divine  nature, 
awaited,  like  so  many  dormant  seeds  of  truth,  the  rising  of 
the  Sun  of  Righteousness,  to  quicken  and  draw  them  forth 
from  their  obscurity. 

But  though  the  solemn  mystery  is  sufficiently  developed 
in  the  gospel  to  demand  our  faith ;  though  the  Great 
Teacher  held  in  his  hand  the  entire  map  of  truth,  he  dis- 
closed only  so  much  of  the  part  in  question  as  related  to 
our  path  to  heaven.  In  adverting  to  the  abysmal  subject 
of  the  Divine  Essence,  he  maintained  a  wise  reserve:  and 
he  did  this,  both  that  he  might  not  entangle  us  in  a  laby- 
rinth, when  we  ought  to  be  advancing  in  the  open  path  of 
life  ;  and  because  of  our  natural  incapacity  to  comprehend 
him  on  a  theme  on  which  there  are  no  analogies  to  assist 
us.  '  How  shall  ye  believe  or  understand  me,'  said  he,  'if 
I  tell  you  of  heavenly  things?'  Instead,  therefore,  of 
•theorizing  on  the  subject,  he  taught  it  dogmatically  and 
practically. 

The  doctrine  in  the  general  opinion  of  the  Christian 
church,  is  necessarily  involved  in  various  parts  of  our 
Lord's  teaching.  I  shall  content  myself,  however,  with 
adverting  to  his  great  command,  *  Go,  then,  and  make  dis- 
ciple*s  of  all  nations,  baptizing  them  unto  the  NAME  of 
the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit.' 
Whether  he  intended  these  words  to  be  a  formulary  of  the 
rite  or  not,  is  immaterial  to  determine.  Their  obvious  im- 
port is  to  describe  baptism  to  be  a  religious  dedication  to 
God,  who  is  known  by  the  manifestation  of  his  NAME, 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  213 

the  display  of  his  glorious  perfections.  Now  as  this  name 
is  attributed  equally  to  the  Father  to  the  Son,  and  to  the 
Holy  Spirit,  it  seems  inevitably  to  follow,  that  the  Son  and 
the  Spirit  are,  with  the  Father,  the  One  God. 

Our  Lord  instituted  but  two  ordinances — baptism  and 
the  Lord's  supper  :  he  erected  but  two  monumental  pil- 
lars: one  without,  and  the  other  within  the  church:  on 
the  first  of  these,  that  which  fronts  the  world,  he  inscribed 
the  great  name  of  the  triune  God ;  and,  as  if  to  render 
the  inscription  more  impressive,  he  made  it  his  last  act. 
Baptism  is  the  vestibule,  or  entrance,  to  his  spiritual  tem- 
ple, the  church  ;  so  that  before  his  disciples  can  pass  the 
threshold,  he  requires  them  to  receive  the  print  of  the  Sa- 
cred Name:  and  by  making  that  one  ceremony  final,  he 
reminds  them  that  the  holy  signature  is  indelible.  By 
baptizing  us  into  the  threefold  name  of  God,  he  would  im- 
press us  at  the  very  outset  of  our  Christian  life  witji  the 
fact,  that  the  work  of  our  salvation  is  so  vast  that  it  brings 
into  action  every  distinction  and  attribute  of  the  divine  na- 
ture ;  that  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  the 
entire  Godhead,  find  ample  scope  for  the  exercise  of  all 
their  perfections,  and  employment  for  all  the  affluence  of 
their  grace.  And  thus  would  he  put  every  part  and  pro- 
perty of  our  nature,  in  return,  into  active  requisition  in 
his  service;  causing  us  to  feel  the  penury  of  our  utmost 
love,  and  constraining  us  cheerfully  to  own,  that,  could  we 
multiply  our  powers  three,  or  a  thousand  fold,  they  should 
all  be  his.  If,  before,  we  considered  our  obligations  infin- 
ite, what  shall  we  think  of  them  now,  on  beholding  the 
Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Hply  Spirit,  three  distinct  subsis- 
tences actually  confederating  and  concurring  together, 
and  embarking  all  their  infinite  treasures  in  the  cause  of  our 
happiness  ;  what  but  that  our  obligations,  which  we  before 
considered  infinite,  are  thus  multiplied  threefold!  a  mul- 


214  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

tiplication  this  which  the  metaphysics  of  a  grateful  heart 
will  allow,  if  not  the  severer  philosophy  of  the  head* 
How  amazing  the  thought,  that  the  Godhead,  the  three 
glorious  subsistences  in  the  Divine  Essence  should  be  all 
officially  present  to  receive  us  in  the  baptismal  solemnity, 
the  porch  of  the  church  ;  that  all  the  Divine  Being  should 
be  there,  to  enter  into  covenant  relation  with  us,  that  we 
should  there  be  met  by  the  sum  of  excellence,  and  have  it 
ascertained  to  us,  that  to  the  uttermost  extent  of  our  capac- 
ity we  are  entitled  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  whole.  An 
ocean  of  happiness  placed  before  those  whose  hearts  over- 
flow with  a  drop  !  'A  presumptuous  idea,  if  our  own  in- 
vention ;  a  lofty  one,  if  revealed  to  us.' 


'Upon  this  rock  will  I  build  my  church.' 
'.My  kii  g.k.m  is  not  of  this  world.' 

I.  Another  original  subject  contained  in  our  Lord's 
teaching,  is  the  existence  of  a  spiritual  church.  The 
grand  conception  of  organizing  and  erecting  a  new 'com- 
munity, to  be  distinguished  from  all  the  existing  forms  of 
civil  society  in  the  world,  by  the  spiritual  nature  and  de- 
sign of  its  government,  could  have  only  originated  in  the 
mind  of  one  who  had  himself  seen  'the  pattern  of  heav- 
enly things.'  Under  the  Mosaic  economy,  this  exalted 
scheme  existed  only  in  emblem.  The  '  church  in  the  wil- 
derness ;'  the  Israelitish  people,  nationally  selected,  and 
separated  from  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  ;  prefigured  an 
approaching  separation  of  a  more  select  and  refined  nature, 
consisting  exclusively  of  '  Israelites  indeed.'  Christ  came 
to  realize  the  sublime  idea :  to  be  himself  the  heart  of  the 
church;  the  point  around  which  it  should  crystalize  and 
form:  and,  in  his  own  person,  (humanity  inhabited  by 


HIS         ORIGINALITY.  215 

Deity,)  presented  at  once  the  image  and  nucleus  of  the 
unearthly  society. 

II.  The  voice  of  prophecy  had  declared  that  such  would 
be  the  spiritual  character  of  his  new  kingdom.  For  while 
some  monstrous  type,  of  brute  ferocity  and  power,  was 
deemed  an  appropriate  symbol  of  each  preceding  monarchy 
as  seen  by  Daniel,  the  ensign  of  the  Messiah's  reign  was 
distinju'sliad  by^'he  likeness  of  the  son  of  man  ;  aptly  de- 
noting, that  while  they  prevailed  by  the  ascendency  of 
physical  might,  from  his  kingdom  should  be  b'inished 
every  carnal  weapon,  and  instrument  of  coertion ;  and 
that  to  him  should  belong  the  honor  of  recognizing  and 
erecting  the  prostrate  elements  of  humanity,  of  reigning 
by  the  spiritual  action  of  mind  on  mind,  the  almighty  in- 
fluence of  enlightened  reason,  of  sanctified  gratitude  and 
love.  It  was  distinctly  predicted  that  his  kingdom,  instead 
of  symbolizing  with  any  of  the  governments  of  earth, 
should  be  to  the  world  an  image  of  his  own  sufficiency, 
surpassing  and  encompassing  them  all.  At  first,  it  would 
resemble  an  imperium  in  imperio,  a  dominion  of  principle 
and  affection  flourishing  amidst  the  kingdoms  of  the  world 
like  the  verdure  of  paradise  set  in  the  desert :  but  in  the 
end,  as  Bacon  describes  the  prevalence  of  a  far  different 
principle,  *  it  bringeth  in  a  new  primum  mobile,  that  rav- 
isheth  all  the  spheres  of  government ;  forming  from  first  to 
last,  in  the  eyes  of  the  world,  an  anomaly  of  government. 
Accordingly,  when  Jesus  came  to  erect  it  he  appeared  at  a 
loss  for  suitable  illustrations  by  which  to  explain  it  to  the 
minds  of  his  hearers.  '  Whereunto,'  saith  he,  'shall  we 
liken  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  with  what  comparison  shall 
we  compare  it?'  None  of  the  governments  of  the  world 
supplied  an  analogy:  he  who  is  the  wisdom  of  God  seem- 
ed embarrassed,  as  he  looked  around  the  world  of  civil  so- 
ciety for  a  similitude,  and  saw  that  it  contained  none. 


216  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

IIT.  But  though  the  constitution  he  designed  to  erect 
was  a  new  creation,  he  constructed  it  in  a  manner  the 
most  unforced  and  simple.  He  who  asked  only  the  dust 
of  the  earth  out  of  which  to  form  a  creature  of  divine  lin- 
eaments : — he,  who  took  the  universal  law  of  animal  na- 
ture which  seeks  the  propagation  of  its  kind,  and  by  graft- 
ing on  it  the  sacred  institution  of  marriage,  made  it  pro-- 
duce  the  choicest  fruits  of  the  earth:  thus  converting  and 

}  O 

consecrating  an  animal  instinct,  a  principle  which  man 
possesses  only  in  common  with  brutes,  into  a  source  of 
pure  and  purifying  enjoyment,  which  more  than  any  other 
natural  means,  raises  and  distinguishes  man  above  the 
inferior  creation  :  he  asked  only  the  elements  of  our  so. 
cial  nature,  with  which  to  construct  '  his  body,'  the  church. 
'  Wherever  two  or  three  are  gathered  together  in  my 
name,'  said  Christ,  'there  am  I  in  the  midst  of  them.'  He 
knew  that  in  obedience  to  our  social  instincts,  to  the  law 
which,  leads  us  to  seek  our  kind,  we  should  in  all  ages 
continue  to  associate:  he  saw  that,  in  the  kingdom  of  Sa- 
tan, familiar  intercourse  is  one  of  the  principal  means  for 
extending  the  contagion  of  evil,  one  of  the  grand  ordinan- 
ces of  sin  ;  and  he  determined  to  give  the  same  principle 
sanctified  scope  and  activity,  in  a  sphere  where  it  might 
prove  equally  efficacious  in  the  production  and  reciproca- 
•  tion  of  good. 

IV.  His  church  is  the  court  of  holy  love,  filled  with  of- 
fices and  appointments  of  charity  and  grace.  Bringing 
into  it  pity,  and  kindness,  and  zeal,  he  baptizes  them  with 
the  spirit  of  heaven,  assigns  them  each  appropriate  duties, 
and  commands  them  to  find  and  fabricate  their  happiness 
out  of  the  happiness  of  others.  Here,  we  are  to  look  on 
the  faults  of  others,  only  to  pray  for,  and  assist  in  their 
improvement ;  and  to  contemplate  their  excellencies,  only 


> 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  217 

to  admire  and  imitate.  By  a  law  of  our  nature,  like  seeks 
to  associate  with  like:  and,  in  his  church,  he  enables  holi- 
ness to  ally  and  reinforce  itself  with  holiness j  he  essays 
to  make  the  least  portion  of  goodness  feel,  that  it  is  identifi- 
ed with  all  the  goodness  in  the  universe.  The  fluid  which 
is  about  to  crystalize,  does  not  more  certainly  assume  the 
form  of  the  crystal  inserted  into  it,  than  believers  modify 
and  accelerate  the  formation  of  their  character  by  associat- 
ing in  Christian  fellowship ;  and  all  assimilate  to  Christ 
their  common  type  and  centre ;  according  to  his  prayer 
they  become  one  in  him. 

V.  Assimilation  is  a  law  of  our  nature,  but  the  tenden- 
cy of  this  principle  in  the  world  is  to  hasten  its  moral  de- 
composition ;  whereas,  in  the  church  it  is  intended  to  ren- 
ovate and  restore  the  moral  health  ;  and  thus  render  the 
church  the  salt  of  the  earth.  But,  to  secure  this  end,  it  is 
evident  that  the  members  of  his  church  must  possess  a 
character  essentially  different  from  the  rest  of  the  world. 
And  this  radical  change  must  take  place  prior  to  their  ad- 
mission ;  otherwise,  there  is  no  guarantee  that  the  world 
will  not  modify  and  absorb  the  church  ;  rather,  there  is  the 
strongest  probability  that  the  principle  of  assimilation  will 
operate  to  the  triumph  of  the  world,  and  the  destruction 
of  the  church. 

1.  Previous  to  its  formation,  therefore,  this  was  the  man- 
date that  rang  through  Judea,  '  Repent  ye,  for  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  is  at  hand  ;'  peculiar  elements  were  wanted  to 
constitute  this  new  society ;  subjects  were  called  for  to 
enrol  under  this  new  form  of  government ;  and  repent- 
ance, transmentation,  a  change  of  mind,  was  the  indispen- 
sable condition  of  enrolment,  Its  divine  Founder  follow- 
ed, and  intent  on  its  purity  he  not  only  echoed  the  same 
call,  but  inscribed  over  its  great  entrance-gate  the  memora- 


218  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

ble  sentence,  'Except  a  man  be  born,  again,  he  cannot  en- 
ter into  the  kingdom  of  God.'  He  commanded  his  disci- 
ples to  go  through  the  world  proclaiming  repentance  and 
the  remission  of  sins  in  his  name,  baptizing  them,  (baptiz- 
ing, that  is,  such  as,  being  capable,  obeyed  the  call  to  re- 
pentance, and  accepted  the  offer  of  forgiveness  ;)  these  spe- 
cimens of  regenerated  humanity,  already  selected  by  the 
divine  hand,  and  baptized  with  the  Spirit,  they  were  to  col- 
lect, and  admit  by  the  door  of  visible  baptism  into  the 
Christian  church. 

2-  That  his  church  is  to  be  composed  only  of  spiritual 
elements,  of  such  only  as  appear  and  profess  to  be  the  sub- 
jects of  a  divine  change,  is  evident  from  the  power  with 
which  he  has  armed  it  to  expel  offenders.  '  Moreover  if 
thy  brother  shall  trespass  against  thee,  go  and  tell  him  his 
fault  between  thee  and  him  alone :  if  he  shall  hear  thee 
thou  hast  gained  thy  brother.  But  if  he  will  not  hear 
thee,  then  take  with  thee  one  or  two  more,  that  in  the 
moutli  of  two  or  .three  witnesses  every  word  may  be  es- 
tablished. And  if  he  shall  neglect  to  hear  them,  tell  it 
unto  the  church:  but  if  he  neglect  to  hear  the  church,  let 
him  be  unto  thee  as  a  heathen  man  or  publican.  Verily, 
I  say  unto  you,  Whatsoever  ye  shall  bind  on  earth  shall  be 
bound  in  heaven  ;  and  whatsoever  ye  shall  loose  on  earth 
shall  be  loosed  in  heaven.  Again,  I  say  unto  you,  that  if 
two  of  you  shall  agree  on  earth  as  touching  any  thing 
that  they  shall  ask,  it  shall  be  done  for  them  of  my  Father 
which  is  in  heaven.  For  where  two  or  three  are  gathered 
in  my  name,  there  am  I  in  the  midst  of  them.' 

The  whole  of  this  paragraph  evidently  relates  to  the 
same  subject;  containing  the  rudiments  of  church  govern- 
ment, forming  the  only  authentic  and  divine  platform  of 
ecclesiastical  discipline.  We  learn  from  it,  first,  that  mere 
nominal  Christians  have  no  room  provided  for  them  in  his 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  219 

church ;  for  it  is  obviously  implied  that  all  its  members, 
have  such  habits  of  charity  and  devotion  to  maintain,  and 
such  holy  offices  to  fill  as  the  representatives  of  Christ,  and 
duties  to  discharge  requiring  his  seal  and  fiat  to  give  them 
validity ;  all  of  so  spiritual  and  distinctive  a  character  that 
they  necessarily  pre-suppose  the  possession  of  nothing  less 
than  vital  godliness.  Secondly,  it  implies  that  when  in- 
stances arise  in  the  church,  calling  for  the  exercise  of  dis- 
cipline, the  members  of  the  church  alone  are  sufficient  to 
administer  the  discipline  necessary,  without  the  interven- 
tion of  any  civil  authority  from  without.  For,  thirdly,  it 
might  occur  that  were  a  civil  arm  a  part  of  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  church,  that  arm  might  be  the  very  part  of  the 
body  requiring  excision  ;  an  hypothesis  by  no  means  ex- 
travagant, if  the  spirituality  and  purity  of  the  church  be 
an  object :  but  unless  the  power  of  excision  be  lodged  in 
the  spiritual  community  itself,  this  necessary  purification 
could  not  take  place.  And,  fourthly,  it  instructs  us,  that  a 
church  though  composed  of  only  'two  or  three,'  is  com- 
plete in  itself;  that  like  the  human  body,  it  possesses  a 
self-correcting  principle,  an  expulsive  power  ;  and  is  com- 
petent to  the  discharge  of  all  its  peculiar  duties. 

The  correction  of  incidental  evils,  and  the  expulsion  of 
offenders,  constitute  the  most  delicate  and  difficult  class  of 
duties  which  a  Christian  church  has  to  perform.  But  the 
task  is  imperative,  and  the  discharge  of  it  vital  to  the 
health  and  purity  of  the  society;  our  Lord,  therefore,  in 
legislating  on  this  subject  is  unusually  particular  and  en- 
couraging. He  exalts  the  duty  of  Christian  reproof  into  a 
standing  ordinance  ;  appoints  the  method,  and  specifies  the 
several  ascending  degrees  of  its  administration,  till  it  has 
been  brought  to  bear  in  its  utmost  force  and  power  on  the 
conscience  of  the  offending  subject  Should  it  prove  inef- 
fectual to  his  recovery,  the  only  remaining  step  is  his  ex- 


220  THE      GREAT       TEACHER. 

communication.  In  exercising  this  solemn  function,  this 
highest  prerogative,  they  are  to  come  into  the  presence  of 
Christ  as  the  fountain  of  their  power  :  he  declares  that  he 
will  descend  to  be  a  party  in  the  final,  awful  transaction ; 
that  as  they  discharge  the  painful  task,  he  will  ratify  it; 
that  as  they  pronounce  the  sentence  charged  with  the  ter- 
rors of  Sinai,  he  will  adopt  it  as  his  own,  and  re-echo  it, 
'  as  if  many  thunders  uttered  their  voices  '  in  the  conscience 
of  the  doomed  offender.  And  this  appeal  to  himself  he 
appoints  as  final,  as  the  ne  plus  ultra  of  church  disipline  ; 
to  appeal  elsewhere  would  be  an  impeachment  of  his  au- 
thority, and  treason  against  his  throne. 

And  let  no  one  speak  lightly  of  this  power  of  rebuke 
and  expulsion.  The  omnipotence  of  public  opinion,  for 
instance,  has  almost  become  a  proverbial  expression.  The 
world  at  present  acknowledges  nothing  so  mighty,  though 
silent,  in  its  operations.  Its  slightest  whisper  is  law  to  a 
nation.'  It  utters  a  prediction,  and  all  the  powers  of  socie- 
ty rush  to  accomplish  the  prophecy.  Unable  to  endure  its 
censure,  numbers  seek  the  asylum  of  the  grave;  and 
rather  than  encounter  its  denunciations,  even  thrones  have 
trembled  and  hid  themselves  in  the  dust.  But  in  uttering 
rebuke,  the  voice  of  the  church  is  public  opinion  in  its 
most  concentrated  form,  borrowing  mysterious  efficacy 
from  the  presence  and  co-operation  of  an  invisible  Agent, 
and  gathering  tones  of  alarm  by  passing  through  the  aven- 
ues of  an  affrighted  soul.  As  the  necessity  of  punishing 
the  offender  springs  from  the  first  principles  in  the  divine 
nature,  so  the  sentence  of  punishment  harmonizes  with  the 
first  principles  of  his  own  nature,  meets  and  coalesces  with 
all  the  remorse  in  his  bosom,  finds  a  ready  and  loud  re- 
sponse from  his  conscience,  and  arms  him  against  himself. 
Sharper  than  any  two-edged  sword,  it  inflicts  a  wound  on 
the  spirit  for  which  earth  has  no  remedy.  It  is  a  flash  of 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  221 

that  consuming  lightning,  which,  leaving  the  outward  man 
unscathed,  passes  direct  to  its  mark  within,  scorching  the 
conscious  soul,  and  turning  all  its  joys  to  ashes.  It  is  even 
an  anticipation  of  the  last  day,  a  foretaste  of  that  consum- 
mation of  terrors;  flashing  the  fires  of  the  lake  that  burn- 
eth  on  the  face  of  the  soul;  cutting  it  off  from  God,  de- 
livering it  over  to  Satan  as  a  sealed  anathema,  an  eternal 
outcast  from  hope  and  Grace.  Such  is  its  efficacy  when 
impartially  administered,  in  connection,  with  the  other 
branches  of  Christian  discipline,  to  preserve  the  purity  of 
the  church,  that  were  it  sufficiently  known,  Christians 
would  no  more  think  of  calling  temporal  aid  into  the 
church,  than  they  would  of  deputing  an  arm  of  flesh  to 
guide  and  assist  the  bolt  of  heaven  to  its  destined  object. 

3.  The  severe  denunciations  which  Jesus  uttered  against 
the  Pharisees,  for  'teaching  as  doctrine  the  commandments 
of  men  ;'  discharging  all  his  thunders  on  the  intrusion  of 
human  authority  into  the  worship  of  God,  and  on  the  sanc- 
timonious hypocrisy  which  naturally  ensued,  indicated 
clearly  the  spiritual  nature  of  the  church  which  he  design- 
ed. He  found  the  world  in  the  church  ;  but  he  determin- 
ed to  reverse  their  relative  position,  to  construct  and  per- 
petuate his  new  society  as  a  church  in  the  world.  '  Every 
plant,'  said  Christ,  and  he  spoke  prospectively,  as  well  as 
in  reference  to  existing  evils,  '  Every  plant  which  my 
heavenly  Father  hath  not  planted,  shall  be  rooted  up.7 
The  church  is  a  sacred  enclosure  taken  in  from  the  world; 
brought  into  cultivation  by  the  divine  Husbandman  ;  and 
intended  to  be  filled  exclusively  with  the  plants  of  right- 
eousness. On  the  outside  of  this  enclosure  is  to  be  found 
the  spontaneous  produce  of  evil,  bringing  forth  fruit  unto 
death  :  but  all  within  are  meant  to  be  '  plants  of  the  Lord's 
right-hand  planting,'  exhibiting  in  the  fruits  they  bear  the 
essential  difference  between  sin  and  holiness, and  the  infin- 


222  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

nite  superiority  of  his  transforming1  grace  over  the  deadly 
produce  of  depraved  nature.  But  if,  in  defiance  of  this 
arrangement,  the  hand  of  the  world  be  allowed  to  interfere, 
his  design  is  defeated;  plants  are  brought  in  which  are 
not  of  his  selection  ;  his  Eden  is  degraded  into  a  spot  for 
human  experiments,  in  which  the  produce  of  grace  is  sup- 
planted by  poisonous  exotics,  and  overrun  with  the  noxi- 
ous weeds  of  human  tradition.  He  designed  the  church 
to  be  his  own  peculium  ;  it  is  the  only  fortress  which  he 
holds  in  a  revolted  world :  and  he  intended  therefore,  that 
no  authority  should  be  known  in  it,  no  laws  acknowledg- 
ed, but  his  own  :  that  no  parties  should  obtain  admission 
but  those  *  who  are  called,  and  chosen,  and  faithful;7  so 
that  to  open  its  gates  for  the  entrance  of  any  of  the  revolt- 
ed, however  specious  the  pretext,  is  a  betrayal  of  the  most 
sacred  trust,  and  treachery  to  the  great  cause  of  Christ. 
His  high  design  is,  that  as  Satan  has  a  church  (he  himself 
speaks  of  the  synagogue  of  Satan)  consisting  of  the  chil- 
dren of  sin  :  a  church  in  which  men  have  been  always  la- 
boring to  cast  off  the  divine  law,  and  to  confound  the  dis.- 
tinction  between  good  and  evil ;  so  he  would  have  a  church 
in  which  these  essential  distinctions  should  again  be  re- 
stored and  exemplified,  and  in  which  the  beauties  of  holi- 
ness, seen  in  their  native  lustre,  should  attract  the  notice, 
and  extort  the  admiration  of  the  universe.  These  are  the 
fruits  by  which  its  members  were  to  glorify  God  ;  these 
the  unearthly  marks  by  which  all  men  should  know  them 
as  his  disciples. 

But  then,  in  order  to  the  success  of  this  grand  design,  it 
is  essential  that  man  should  not  intermeddle — the  process 
is  divine  throughout.  Had  Christ  taken  up  his  residence 
visibly  and  permanently  on  earth,  ithe  impertinence  and 
impiety  of  interfering  with  the  arrangements  of  his  church 
would  have  been  too  palpable  to  be  attempted.  But  though 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  223 

he  has  departed,  he  appointed  the  Spirit  as  his  successor, 
and  promised  him  as  more  than  his  equal  in  the  superin- 
tendence of  the  church;  the  Spirit  has  come,  and  in  the 
scriptures  of  his  own  dictation  .has  presented  the  church 
with  its  only  code  and  charter  ;  so  that  for  man  to  interfere, 
is  either  to  impugn  the  divine  sufficiency  of  the  Spirit,  or 
convict  himself  of  presumptuous  impiety.  To  every 
such  intruder  the  language  of  Christ  is  decisive,  *  My  king- 
dom is  not  of  this  world  ;'  it  has  no  principle  in  common 
with  the  kingdoms  of  earth  ;  it  refuses  all  human  patron- 
age ;  rejects,  and  casts  off  from  itself  as  alien  to  its  nature, 
the  aid  of  temporal  pains  and  penalties  ;  and  for  a  man  to 
put  forth  his  hand  with  a  patronizing  air  to  support  it,  is  to 
endanger  its  safety,  or  to  peril  his  own. 

Whether  personally  present  or  absent,  our  Lord  design- 
ed his  church  to  exhibit  to  the  world  an  image  of  his  own 
sufficiency;  to  furnish  to  it  a  standing  representation  of 
anotner  world,  of  other  laws  than  earth  obeys,  and  of  a 
higher  order  of  enjoyment  and  power  than  man  possesses, 
derived  from  a  source  independent  of  all  created  means. 
But  in  order  to  answer  its  original  intention,  its  heaven- 
ly Founder  must  be  left  unimpeded  to  work  out  his  great 
idea.  If  his  church  is  to  resemble  a  temple,  let  it  be  built 
after  the  pattern  of  things  in  the  heavens;  let  it  have  the 
exact  dimensions  and  proportions  assigned  by  the  angel- 
architect,  who  brought  to  the  work  his  golden  measuring- 
rod  from  heaven,  and  it  will  lift  up  its  head  into  the  light 
of  day,  and  tower  towards  heaven,  a  stately  and  magnifi- 
cent fabric,  visibly  inhabited  by  the  shekinah  of  the  divine 
presence,  made  transparent  by  the  enshrined  glory,  arid  ra- 
diating around  in  all  directions  its  dazzling  beams,  so  as 
to  invite  admiration,  to  repel  the  presumptuous  approach, 
and  smite  with  blindness  the  profane  gaze  of  irreligion — 
finding  in  its  own  glory  its  lustre  and  defence.  If  the 


224  THE       GREAT       TEACHEtf. 

church  is  to  attain  the  fair  proportions,  and  to  reach  the 
immortal  stature  of  the  body  of  Christ,  let  her  be  fed  with 
the  manna  which  his  own  hand  supplies,  and  grow  as  the 
in-dwelling  life  shall  expand,  and  be  left  to  the  sole  guar- 
dianship of  his  own  grace,  and  she  shall  move  in  her  own 
light,  clad  in  more  than  complete  steel,  having  the  robes  of 
divinity  about  her,  frowning  impurity  from  her  path  with 
a  look,  surprisingcuriosity  into  blank  awe,  into  involuntary 
and  prostrate  adoration  by  her  noble  grace  and  bearing, 
and  passing  on  in  unblenched  majesty,  she  shall  perform 
the  heroic  works  and  exploits  assigned  her  by  God ; — a 
wonder  !  astonishing  heaven  and  earth  ; — '  a  woman, 
clothed  with  the  sun,  and  the  moon  under  her  feet,  and 
upon  her  head  a  crown  of  twelve  stars  ;'  being  adorned 
with  celestial  attire,  and  crowned  with  light ;  instead  of 
seeking  to  enhance  her  glory  by  sublunary  ornaments,  she 
evinces  her  spiritual  nobility  by  treading  them  under  foot. 
Oh  !  had  men  revered  the  evident  intention  of  the  Great 
Head  of  the  church  :  instead  of  encumbering  religion  as 
they  have,  and  weighing  her  down  to  the  dust  with  a  load 
of  earth-made  armor,  they  would  have  seen  her  equipped 
in  the  light,  but  indestructible  panoply  of  grace,  advance 
to  her  appointed  conflict,  terrible  as  a  bannered  host:  car- 
rying with  her  the  sympathies  of  the  groaning  creation, 
whose  champion  she  is;  trampling  her  enemies  under 
foot,  (the  earth  itself  helping  her  in  her  straits  ;)  her  weak- 
ness doing  the  deeds  of  might,  deeds  which  omnipotence 
might  own  ;  gathering  up  trophies  at  every  step ;  and  re- 
turning, at  length  from  the  circuit  and  conquest  of  the 
world  with  a  train  of  willing  captives  which  no  one  can 
number,  of  all  nations,  kindreds,  tongues,  and  people ;  and 
laden  with  many  crowns  for  him  whose  strength  had  resi- 
ded in  her  right  arm,  and  who  alone  had  caused  her  to  tri- 
umph in  every  place. 


HIS      ORIGINALITY*  225 

4.  But  the  church  of  Christ,  enfeebled  and   defective  as 
it  may  be,  is  that  only  object  on  earth,  on  which  he  bestows 
his  supreme  regard.     If  his  attention  is  divided,  it  is  only 
between  his  church  below  and  his  church  in  heaven ;  but 
in  his  estimation  they  are  identical,  they  are  only  two  por- 
tions of  the  one  object  which    constitutes  in  his  eyes  the 
glory  of  the   universe.     The  affairs  of  the  world,  indeed, 
are  under  his    superintendence,  but   always  with  an  espe- 
cial view  to  the   prosperity  of  his   church.     While  he  ex- 
tends his  sceptre,  and  despatches  his  angels  to  every  part  of   ' 
the  world,  he  engages  to  come  personally  into  the  midst  of 
his  church,  and  to  honor  their  prayers  and  decisions  by  re- 
garding them  as  laws  for  his  own  conduct.     The  church 
is  his  mystical  body  ;  and  he  is  present  as  the  vital  head, 
living  through  all    its   members.     It  is  the  theatre  of  his 
grace ;  in   which  he   is  making  experiments  of  mercy  on 
human   hearts,  and  effecting  transformations  so    amazing 
that  angels  look  on  with  astonishment  and  joy.     Here  he 
is  training  up  a  number   of  those    who  were   children  of 
wrath,  and  preparing  them  to  take  part  in  the  business  and 
pleasures  of  heaven.     He  has  it    in  prospect   to    collect  a 
large  revenue  6f  glory  from  earth  ;  and  his  church  is  the 
repository  in  which  all  that  wealth  is  stored,  preparatory  to 
its  full  and  final  display.     His    appointment  of  her  ordin- 
ances, the  full-souled  ardor  of  his  intercessory  prayer  that 
she  might  be  with  him,  one  with  him  forever ;   his  dona- 
tion and  dowry  of  the  Holy  Spirit;  his  rich  and  constant 
supplies  of  grace  ;  his  watchful  jealousy  of  all  the  advan- 
ces of  temporal  power  ;  and  the  encompassing  wall  of  fire 
into  which  his  perfections  kindle  for  her  protection  ;  a  wall 
which  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  break  and  enter  ;  all  con- 
cur to  show,  that,  as  the  elected  bridegroom  of  the  church, 
he  is  looking  forward  to  the  spousal  day,   when,    having 
made  herself  as  a  bride  adorned  for  her  husband,  he  shall 
14 


226  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

find  in  her  unwrinkled  beauty  and  spotless  perfection,  the 
solace  and  reward  of  all  his  love ;  and  in  her  full  happi- 
ness the  supplement  and  completion  of  his  own  glory. 
Now  he  is  the  centre  from  which  radiates  all  her  splendor, 
then  he  shall  be  the  focus  to  which  it  shall  all  return.  His 
voice  shall  be  the  only  sound  to  which  his  church  shall 
listen  ;  his  glory  the  only  object  on  which  her  eye  shall 
fasten  ;  his  grace,  matchless  and  untold,  the  only  theme  that 
shall  engage  her  tongue.  *  Blessed  are  they  who  are  call- 
ed unto  the  marriage  supper  of  the  Lamb.' 


SECTION    V. — ON    SATANIC    AGENCY, 


1  The  Devil  and  his  Angels.' 


ANGELIC  agency,  both  good  and  bad,  is  a  doctrine  fa- 
miliar to  the  Old  Testament.  That  part  of  the  doctrine 
which  relates  to  the  ministry  of  holy  arjgels  indeed,  is 
there  so  fully  illustrated,  that,  although  the  discourses  of 
Christ  contain  frequent  allusions  to  it,  they  present  so  little 
that  is  neWi  except  the  conspicuous  part  they  will  enact 
in  the  solemnities  of  the  last  day  ;  and  the  fact  that  they 
are  his ;  that  the  few  remarks  on  the  subject  we  propose  to 
advance,  will  relate  exclusively  to  ''the  devil  and  his  an- 
gels.' Concerning  these,  the  teaching  of  Christ  is  more 
copious,  explicit,  and  original :  as  if  in  compassion  to  our 
fears,  the  full  exposure  of  our  danger  from  hell  had  been 
reserved  till  he  could  furnish  the  antidote  to  those  fears  by 
revealing  the  counteracting  agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

Having   assumed    the   championship  of  the  world,  and 
being  confident  of  ultimate  triumph,  our  Lord  did  not  hes- 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  227 

itate  to  confirm  our  worst  apprehensions  of  the  numbers, 
and* powers,  and  malice  of  our  spiritual  foes.  He  opened 
our  eyes,  and,  behold  !  the  enemy  in  full  possession  of  our 
world.  And,  as  if  the  seat  of  the  infernal  government  had 
been  long  since  transferred  from  hell  to  earth,  he  repeated 
its  princely  titles  as  familiar  words,  enlarged  on  its  domin- 
ion, and  pointed  out  its  thrones,  principalities,  and  powers. 
Among  these  he  spoke  of  one  as  Satan  ;  Beelzebub ;  a 
liar  ;  a  murderer  from  the  beginning  ;  the  wicked  and  evil 
one  ;  one  who,  by  trampling  on  law,  had  acquired  the  au- 
thority of  a  legislator  in  guilt :  and  who,  by  signalizing 
himself  as  the  most  daring  of  rebels,  had  reached  the  bad 
pre-eminence  of  the  'prince  of  demons.' 

Of  the  number  of  his  angels  we  can  form  only  a  con- 
jecture :  but  the  fact,  that  his  *  field  is  the  world ;'  that  he 
is  represented  as  multiplying  himself  through  their  agency 
over  the  whole  field  ;  and  concurring  in,  if  not  actually  in- 
stigating, all  the  evils  which  it  contains,  warrants  the  con- 
jecture that  they  out-number  the  human  race.  Let  no  man, 
then,  hope  to  escape  temptation,  through  any  lack  of  satan- 
ic  agents.  He,  wrhose  resources  enable  him  to  devote  a 
legion  to  torment  a  human  body,  cannot  be  wanting  in  in- 
struments to  tempt  and  destroy  the  immortal  soul. 

Whether  sin  had  ever  entered  the  universe,  at  any  date- 
less period  prior  to  the  angelic  apostacy,  we  know  not ;  it 
is  certain  that  we  can  only  trace  its  history  up  to  that  mys- 
terious event.  Speaking  of  Satan,  our  Lord  declares  that 
*  he  abode  not  in  the  truth ;'  once,  he  possessed  a  throne 
where  all  is  radiant  with  holiness  and  joy,  but  he  swerved 
from  his  allegiance  to  'the  blessed  and  only  Potentate,'  and 
thus  lost  his  first  estate.  Together  with  an  unknown  mul- 
titude of  associate  rebels,  he  was  driven  from  the  presence 
of  God,  cut  off  from  the  loyal  part  of  the  creation,  and 
doomed  to  be  the  prey  of  his  own  mighty  depravity.  From 


THE      GREAT       TEACHER. 

that  moment  he  became  the  avowed  antagonist  of  God; 
established  an  infernal  empire,  and  planted  the  standard  of 
rebellion,  around  which  all  the  principles  and  powers  of 
evil  might  rally  and  combine.  Actuated  by  that  universal 
law,  by  which  each  being  and  principle  seeks  to  conform 
all  things  to  its  own  nature,  and  stimulated  by  implacable 
hatred  against  God,  he  no  sooner  found  our  world  created, 
than  he  came  to  efface  from  it  the  image  of  God  and  to 
stamp  his  own  on  its  breast.  In  the  execution  of  this 
dreadful  project  he  succeeded  ;  meriting  by  the  means 
which  he  adopted,  and  the  dreadful  results  of  his  success, 
the  titles  of  liar,  the  father  of  lies,  and  a  murderer  from 
the  beginning.  He  impregnated  the  heart  of  man  with 
the  awful  spirit  of  revolt,  and  added  earth  to  his  infernal 
empire;  involving  the  whole  species  in  guilt ;  introducing' 
death,  (now  perhaps  first  known,)  into  the  dominions  of 
God ;  and  leading  mankind,  generation  after  generation, 
into  the  outer  darkness  of  his  own  proper  region.  And 
of  all  the  vast  and  complicated  agency  of  evil,  by  which 
the  sinfulness  and  misery  of  the  world  is  perpetuated,  he  is 
4  the  Wicked  One,'  the  Evil,  the  great  efficient  cause.  His 
throne  is  the  rallying  point,  to  which  all  evil  looks  for  re- 
inforcement and  support ;  the  centre  from  which  flows,  and 
to  which  gravitates,  all  evil ;  the  heart  of  the  great  system 
of  guilt. 

The  domination  which  Satan  has  acquired  on  earth  is 
called  by  Christ  a  kingdom ;  in  which  he  possesses,  by 
right  of  supremacy  in  guilt,  the  princely  titles,  and  exer- 
cises the  prerogatives  of  royalty,  Unable  to  expel  God 
from  his  throne,  and  thus  succeed  to  the  homage  of  man ; 
he  had,  by  a  universal  system  of  idolatry,  planted  his 
throne  between  the  human  worshipper  and  the  Divine  Be- 
ing, intercepting  and  appropriating  the  adoration  which 
belonged  to  God  alone,  But,  in  order  that  earth  might 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  229 

not  quite  forget  its  rightful  Lord,  Jehovah  was  pleased  to 
select  a  people  and  erect  a  temple,  expressly  for  the  main- 
tenance of  his  true  worship.  They  held  their  country 
from  God,  on  the  express  condition  of  fealty  to  his  throne. 
From  the  moment  of  that  arrangement,  Satan  may  be  said 
to  have  made  a  descent  on  Judea  ;  its  temple  was  a  memo- 
rial of  his  tyranny,  a  standing  protest  against  his  usurpa- 
tion ;  its  worship,  a  national  proclamation,  daily  repeated 
in  the  name  of  heaven,  of  his  treason  and  guilt.  At  dif 
ferent  times  he  seems  to  have  put  all  the  forces  of  his 
kingdom  into  motion  to  bear  upon  it :  for  to  shut  up  the 
temple  of  God,  to  seduce  the  people  to  idolatry,  to  erect  an 
idol  in  the  holy  place,  was  to  sit  on  the  only  throne  of  God 
upon  earth,  was  a  triumph  which  could  only  be  exceeded 
by  ascending  the  throne  of  heaven. 

For  ages  previous  to  the  divine  advent,  the  world  seem- 
ed almost  entirely  his  own.  His  contest  for  earthly  su- 
premacy, so  long  disputed  by  heaven,  seemed  crowned 
with  success.  His  vice-regencies  and  powers  sat  in  the 
quiet  and  unchallenged  possession  of  their  thrones.  No 
prophet  smote  them  on  their  lofty  seats,  or  denounced  their 
usurpations:  no  miracle  reminded  them  of  an  omnipotent 
antagonist.  The  world  appeared  to  be  as  completely  theirs 
to  portion  out,  and  rule  at  pleasure,  as  if  they  held  it  by 
grant  and  seal  from  God  himself,  and  were  appointed  to 
reign  in  his  name.  Nor  did  Judea  itself  form  an  excep- 
tion to  this  wide  infernal  sway  ;  for  (short  of  formal  idola- 
try) it  belonged  to  the  universal  confederacy,  and  formed 
one  of  the  fairest  and  most  faithful  provinces  of  the  satanic 
empire.  And,  as  if  to  exact  a  terrible  compensation,  even 
for  this  slight  nominal  deduction  from  full  allegiance,  many 
of  its  inhabitants  were  held  as  hostages  to  hell,  by  a  terri- 
ble system  of  demoniacal  possession.  Satan  had  become 
'ihe  prince  of  this  world,'  Wherever  he  looked  the  ex- 


230  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

panse  was  his  own ;  the  teeming  population  were  his  sub- 
jects ;  the  invisible  rulers  were  his  selected  agents ;  temp- 
tation in  his  hands  had  become  a  science,  and  sin  was 
taught  by  rule;  the  world  was  one  store-house  of  tempta- 
tion ;  an  armory  in  which  every  object  and  event  ranked 
as  a  weapon,  and  all  classed  and  kept  ready  for  service ; 
every  human  heart  was  a  fortified  place ;  every  demon 
power  was  at  its  post;  he  beheld  the  complicated  machine- 
ry of  evil,  which  his  mighty  malignity  had  constructed,  in 
full  and  efficient  operation  ;  no  heart  unoccupied,  no  spot 
unvisited,  no  agency  unemployed ;  and  the  whole  resulting 
in  a  vast,  organized,  and  consolidated  empire.  No  sooner, 
therefore,  did  Jesus  begin  to  attract  the  attention  of  Judea, 
as  the  *  Sent  of  God,'  than  he  became  obnoxious  to  the  ty- 
rant's hate.  In  the  usurped  capacity  of  the  sovereign  of 
the  world,  the  tempter  went  forth  and  met  him,  asking  him 
only  to  own  that  sovereignty,  and  all  the  kingdoms  of  the 
world  should  be  his,  and  the  glory  of  them- 

But  the  great  object  which  had  brought  Christ  upon 
earth  was  to  dispute  that  sovereignty,  to  re-assert  the  orig- 
inal and  supreme  rights  of  God  to  the  alienated  homage  of 
mankind,  and  thus  rescue  man  from  the  grasp  of  the  De- 
stroyer. What  the  enemy  reserved  as  his  last  and  most 
powerful  temptation,  the  splendid  vision  of  a  thousand 
provinces,  was  a  sight,  we  may  suppose,  familiar  to  the 
eye  of  Christ ;  though  seen  by  him,  alas !  under  a  far  dif- 
ferent aspect.  He  beheld  in  it  a  scene  of  woe,  which  never 
failed  to  call  forth  his  profound  compassion.  On  all  sides 
he  beheld  the  blinded  victims  of  satanic  cruelty;  vast, 
crowded  tracts  of  spiritual  beings,  immortal  essences,  wast- 
ed, ruined,  murdered,  lost;  a  captive  world,  chained  to  the 
wheels  of  a  spoiler,  and  moving  along,  (most  of  them  so 
beguiled,  as  to  be  actually  pleased  with  the  mock  pomp  of 
the  gloomy  procession,)  to  endless  death.  While  immedi- 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  231 

ntely  beneath  his  eye,  in.  the  very  land  where  he  had  taken 
humanity,  he  saw  legions  of  fiends  in  actual,  bodily  pos. 
session  of  miserable  man.  Not  satisfied  with  the  evil  they 
could  inflict  by  ordinary  temptation,  he  beheld  them  con- 
summating their  cruelty  by  actually  incorporating  with 
men  ;  turning  their  bodies  into  living  tombs,  engrossing  and 
demonizing  all  their  powers,  merging  the  man  in  the  fiend. 
Yes,  man,  who  had  been  created  in  the  image  of  God,  be- 
came'the  habitation  of  dragons;'  his  heart  the  fuel  con- 
sumed by  their  passions ;  his  senses  and  organs,  the  slaves 
of  their  rampant  impiety;  hell  brought  to  him,  and  begun 
in  him,  upon  earth ;  an  incarnate  demon,  his  features  put- 
ting on  the  image  of  the  legion  within  him; — what  a  sight 
for  the  Lover  of  souls  !  what  a  spectacle  for  infinite  good- 
ness to  contemplate!  The  Saviour  beheld,  and  meditated 
relief.  He  made  bare  his  arm,  and  the  unclean  spirits  fled 
at  his  approach.  He  sent  his  disciples,  first  twelve,  and 
then  seventy,  to  traverse  the  land  in  all  directions  ;  each  of 
them  armed,  and  charged,  to  cast  out  devils ;  and  again  he 
repeated  the  charge  to  his  apostles,  when  on  his  way  to 
ascend  from  earth  to  heaven.  t 

When  vindicating  the  character  of  his  power  from  the 
imputation  of  the  Pharisees,  he  affirmed  that  it  was  of  a 
nature  essentially  hostile  to  Satan,  and  subversive  of  his 
kingdom.  While  the  foresight  of  the  redemption  his 
death  would  achieve,  enabled  him  to  speak  of  the  future  as 
if  it  had  been  present,  and  to  say,  '  Now  is  the  prince  of 
this  world  cast  out.'  The  voice  of  prophecy  had  declared, 
*  He  shall  divide  the  spoil  with  the  strong ;'  and,  in  fulfill- 
ment of  that  prediction,  he  planted  himself  full  in  the  path- 
way of  the  destroyer ;  he  may  be  said  to  have  erected  his 
cross  in  the  highway  to  hell,  that  he  might  rescue  sinners 
from  the  very  jaws  of  perdition. 

Now,  as  Satan  possesses  on  earth  official  ubiquity,  as  he 


232  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

4 

is  every  where  present  through  the  medium  of  his  agents, 
it  was  not  to  be  supposed  that  an  event  so  signalized  as 
the  advent  of  Christ  would  escape  his  knowledge;  or,  that 
being  known,  it  would  fail  to  call  forth  his  jealous  vigi- 
lance and  utmost  opposition.  Knowing,  indeed,  as  we  do,  the 
essential  dignity  of  Christ,  we  might  have  hoped  that,  in 
deference  to  his  purity  and  majesty,  temptation  would  have 
retired  from  his  presence,  or  have  laid  its  baneful  activity 
to  sleep ;  that  the  powers  of  darkness  would  have  left  him 
a  free  and  open  passage  through  the  world  ;  and  that  his 
disciples  would  have  found  in  his  hallowed  presence  a 
certain  shelter  from  the  persecutions  of  hell.  But  so  far 
from  this,  his  coming  awoke  all  the  original  antipathy,  the 
native  oppugnancy,  of  evil  against  good.  He  had  come 
into  a  world  in  which  nothing  in  human  form  had  ever 
escaped  the  pollution  of  sin  ;  and  he  had  come  here,  attested 
by  such  signal  credentials  of  a  divine  commission,  that 
from  the  hour  of  his  advent,  through  the  whole  of  his 
earthly  course,  Satan  appears  to  have  called  in  his  agents 
from  every  other  pursuit,  and  to  have  set  them  in  array 
against  him  alone ;  turning  away  from  all  ignobler  prey, 
he  seems  to  have  made  him  the  sole  mark  for  every  shaft 
and  weapon  of  hell.  As  if  the  temptation  of  Christ  were 
too  great  aq,  enterprise,  a  field  too  momentous,  to  be  left  to 
the  power  of  a  common  arm,  the  prince  of  darkness  him- 
self, undertook  personally  to  conduct  the  untried  adventure. 
Having  drawn  out  his  forces,  and  entrenched  himself  in 
his  way,  he  came  into  eager  and  determined  collision  with 
Christ  on  the  very  threshold  of  his  public  life  ;  leaving  him, 
to  infer,  that  if  he  persisted  in  his  intended  course,  his  pro- 
gress would  be  disputed,  step  by  step. 

Nor  are  the  eventful  narratives  of  the  evangelists  want- 
ing in  intimations  that  the  threat  was  made  good.  In  his 
own  express  language,  especially  as  that  language  is  after- 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  233 

wards  illustrated  by  the  apostles,  we  can  only  arrive  at 
one  conclusion,  that  his  whole  life  was  a  continued  conflict, 
hourly  increasing  in  fierceness  and  malignity  on  the  part 
of  hell,  till  it  came  to  the  crisis  of  Calvary.  '  The  prince 
of  this  world  cometh,'  said  he,  '  and  hath  nothing  in  me.' 
1  Now  shall  the  prince  of  this  world  be  cast  out.'  '  This 
is  your  hour,  and  the  power  of  darkness.'  During  that 
dreadful  hour,  indeed,  no  foe  could  be  seen  by  man,  but 
such  as  the  gates  of  Jerusalem  had  poured  forth.'  And  it 
is  true,  that,  had  that  been  the  only  foe,  the  enmity  of  the 
carnal  mind  had  that  day  collected  and  led  out  her  chosen 
bands  from  the  halls  and  streets  of  the  city;  had  assem- 
bled and  crowded  around  the  cross  the  darjcest  elements  of 
human  depravity.  But  the  great  Foe  was  invisible.  Of- 
ten had  he  assailed  the  life  of  Jesus  before,  but  as  often 
had  he  been  defeated;  it  seemed  guarded,  like  the  tree  of 
life  itself,  by  a  sword  which  turned  every  way.  But  now, 
at  length,  his  persevering  malice  seemed  crowned  with  suc- 
cess :  the  Saviour  was  in  his  toils,  and  appeared  to  be  aban- 
doned to  his  fate:  he  and  his  cause  would  expire  in  igno- 
miny together  :  and  mercy,  pierced  through  his  side,  and 
chased  from  the  world,  would  no  more  return,  but  would 
henceforth  relinquish  man  to  the  undisputed  sceptre  of 
hell. 

We  cannot  but  imagine  that  the  thrones  and  principali- 
ties of  darkness  were  there  to  witness  the  triumph ;  that, 
flocking  together  from  the  east  and  west,  the  north  and 
south,  leaving  behind  them  many  an  unfinished  plot  of 
evil,  they  came  and  covered  the  mount,  to  celebrate  his  tri- 
umph. And  could  heaven  be  absent?  No,  the  angels  of 
God,  incapable  of  repose  while  such  an  issue  was  pend- 
ing, quitted  their  celestial  seats,  and  surrounded  the  scene 
with  horses  and  chariots  of  fire.  Stars  in  their  courses 
might  have  fought  during  that  hour,  and  have  been  un- 


234  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

heeded.  It  was  more  than  an  era;  the  junction  of  all  the 
eras  of  time :  the  event  of  that  hour  was  to  determine, 
whether  earth  should  pass  entirely  into  the  hands  of  Satan, 
or  be  again  recovered  into  the  hand  of  God :  whether  the 
expiring  rays  of  human  hope  should  he  quite  extinguished 
in  the  blood  of  Christ,  leaving  the  earth  in  hopeless  night ; 
or,  whether  his  cross  should  henceforth  radiate  light  and 
life  to  the  universe:  it  was  to  draw  to  a  close  the  great 
question,  to  terminate  the  comprehensive  controversy  of  all 
ages  between  right  and  wrong,  holiness  and  sin.  Hell  in- 
flicted the  decisive  stroke ;  the  shock  was  received  and 
sustained  by  the  heart  of  the  Son  of  God.  Then,  and  not 
till  then,  did  the  powers  of  darkness  perceive  their  error  : 
they  saw  with  unutterable  dismay,  that  in  bowing  his  head 
he  was  dragging  the  pillars  of  their  empire  to  the  dust; 
that  he  was  dying  to  triumph  ;  that,  in  effect,  his  cross 
was  changing  into  a  throne.  He  exclaimed,  '  It  is  finish- 
ed!' and  the  gates  of  hell  vibrated  to  the  shout.  He  en- 
tered into  the  grave  for  a  short  space:  there  attired  him- 
self in  the  robes -of  triumph  ;  came  forth  to  receive  the 
gratulation  and  homage  of  angels  and  men  ;  and  ascended 
to  his  new  mediatorial  throne,  '  leading  captivity  captive, 
and  making  a  show  of  them  openly.' 

It  is  by  no  means  unlikely  that  some  persons,  on  corn- 
paring  this  statement  with  the  moral  condition  of  the 
world,  may  be  tempted  to  think,  that,  if  the  death  of  our 
Lord  is  to  be  viewed  as  a  triumph  over  hell  we  greatly 
overrate  its  practical  results.  To  such  a  suspicion  it  may 
suffice  to  reply,  that  our  language  is  only  the  echo  of 
scripture,  of  the  declarations  of  Christ  himself.  That 
*  we  see  not  yet  all  things  put  under  him,7  we  readily  ad- 
mit; that  a  large  proportion  of  thesatanic  empire  has  not 
yet  been  even  summoned  in  his  name  ;  and  that  much  of  the 
kingdom  which  nominally  belongs  to  Christ  has  not  real 


HIS    ORIGINALITY.  235 

ly  transferred  its  allegiance  from  Satan,  are  facts  we  deeply 
deplore.  But,  first,  he  distinctly  predicted  this  prolonged 
activity  and  power  of  the  enemy.  A  consideration, 
secondly,  which  should  induce  us  to  credit  his  other  pre- 
dictions of  perfect  triumph  in  the  end.  Especially  as,  in 
the  third  place,  we  recognize  in  his  mediatorial  work,  all 
the  essential  elements  of  that  triumph ;  the  character  of 
God,  which  Satan  had  obscured,  made  more  illustrious 
than  before;  the  most  affecting  and  decisive  proof  that 
God,  in  punishing  sin,  is  perfectly  just  and  infinitely  good  ; 
the  dignity  and  happiness  of  the  creature  which  Satan  had 
placed  in  revolt,  not  only  consisting  with  a  state  of  subjec- 
tion to  God,  depending  on  it;  divinity  and  humanity, 
which  Satan  had  traduced  and  represented  as  antagonist 
natures,  brought  into  the  close  embrace  and  union  of  one 
person  ;  the  forgiveness  of  sin,  which  the  enemy  supposed 
imcompatible  with  the  divine  rectitude,  made  more  com- 
patible with  that  rectitude  than  even  the  punishment 
of  sin  would  be;  new  incentives  to  holiness,  and  an  infi- 
nite augmentation  of  every  previous  motive  to  resist  sin ; 
and  to  crown  all,  the  almighty  agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
to  expel  from  the  heart  the  strong  man  armed,'  and  to  en- 
throne in  his  stead,  '  a  stronger  than  he.'  And,  fourthly,  it 
appears  that,  wherever  these  elements  of  triumph  are 
brought  to  bear  on  the  human  heart,  they  infallibly  achieve 
success:  demonstrating  the  glorious  superiority  of  Christ 
to  '  all  the  power  of  the  enemy,' 

The  church  which  he  has  formed  has  been  reared  in  the 
immediate  presence  of  hell  in  arms  ;  every  member  belong- 
ing to  it  is  a  vassal  rescued  from  the  empire  of  sin  ;  many 
of  them  were  once  even  the  pillars  of  that  empire.  As 
the  spiritual  erection  has  proceeded,  it  has  been  approach- 
ed by  stratagem,  and  beleagured  in  form :  but  it  is  4  built 
on  a  rock,  and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against 


236  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 


it.7  When  the  seventy  returned  to  him,  saying  '  Even  the 
devils  are  subject  to  us  through  thy  name,'  he  received  the 
announcement  as  matter  of  course  ;  his  eye  had  followed 
them  wherever  they  had  gone  ;  and,  surveying  futurity  as 
already  present,  had  beheld  in  their  success  the  earnest  of 
a  triumph  in  which  '  Satan  should  fall  like  lightning  from 
heaven  ;'  looking  through  all  the  intermediate  clouds  and 
storms  of  time,  he  gazed  complacently,  as  in  sceptred  state 
on  the  serene  atmosphere  of  the  world,  purged  of  all  its 
evil  elements,  and  fit  to  be  breathed  by  the  inhabitants  of 
heaven.  When  surrounded  by  circumstances  of  the  deep- 
est depression,  he  said,  with  the  calm  confidence  of  majes- 
ty enthroned  with  all  its  rivals  at  its  feet,  '  The  prince  of 
this  world  is  judged,'  'Now  shall  he  be  cast  out.'  Even 
then  he  saw  in  perspective,  the  completion  of  his  triumph 
and  beyond  :  his  prophetic  ear,  even  then,  caught  the  dis- 
tant shout  of  his  redeemed  church.  He  knew,  that  when 
he  should  exclaim,  *  It  is  finished,'  the  powers  of  darkness 
would  hear  in  that  cry,  the  knell  of  their  empire;  that 
when  his  name  should  be  shouted  from  land  to  land,  as 
the  watchword  of  salvation,  its  every  echo  should  shake 
and  bring  down  the  fabrics  of  that  empire. 

And  now  it  is  finished,  the  work  of  redemption  is  com- 
pleted ;  all  that  remains  for  him  to  do,  is  perfectly  compat- 
ible with  a  state  of  rest ;  'from  henceforth  he  is  expecting 
till  his  enemies  be  made  his  footstool.'  Having  foughtthe 
battle,  he  has  despatched  his  subjects  to  pursue  the  enemy, 
to  win  the  victory,  and  collect  the  spoils.  As  long,  indeed, 
as  this  remains  unaccomplished,  he  will  not  consider  his 
office  fulfilled,  or  his  reward  complete.  As  long  as  a  sin- 
gle principle  of  evil  continues  at  large,  the  universe  is 
threatened,  the  safetyand  peace  of  theSaviour's  empire  are 
liable  to  invasion  and  revolt;  *  he  must  reign  till  he  hath 
put  all  enemies  under  his  feet.'  Nor,  till  then,  will  his 


HIS      ORIGINALITY.  237 

kingdom  be  in  a  state  to  be  *  delivered  up  unto  God,  even 
the  Father ;  he  has  undertaken,  expressly,  to  '  gather  out 
of  it  all  things  that  offend,  and  them  that  do  iniquity  ; '  to 
restore  it  to  a  state  of  purity  and  perfection  worthy  to  be 
known  as  the  work  of  his  hands ;  fit  to  be  accepted,  and  in- 
stated again,  as  an  integral  part  of  his  dominions,  'who is 
of  purer  eyes  than  to  behold  iniquity.'  And,  as  he  sits 
enthroned,  with  all  power  in  his  arm,  it  is  true,  that  to  him, 
even  now,  is  the  prince  of  this  world  cast  out,  and  the  last 
enemy  destroyed.  He  beholds  the  prince  of  the  power  of 
the  air  already  in  flight ;  followed  in  disorder  by  the  routed 
remains  of  his  once  gorgeous  and  imperial  state ;  thrones, 
dominations,  and  powers :  the  tyranny  of  six  thousand 
years  ;  sailing  through  the  air,  and  fading  from  the  view  • 
he  looks  upon  the  world,  his  own  world,  subdued  by  love, 
exorcised  of  every  element  and  atom  of  evil ;  another 
heaven;  catching,  and  reflecting,  and  multiplying  his  own 
image,  and  God  is  all  in  all. 

And  here  we  should  quit  the  subject,  did  we  not  suspect 
that  certain  inquiries  have  been  suggested  in  the  course  of 
the  essay,  some  of  which,  if  left  unnoticed,  might  impair 
the  salutary  effect  which  it  might  otherwise  produce,  and 
all  of  which  admit  of  a  practical  application. 

Concerning  the  nature  of  the  beings  of  whom  we  are 
speaking,  we  only  know  that  they  are  spirits ;  by  which, 
probably  all  that  is  meant  is, — not  that  they  are  absolutely 
unembodied  ;  to  be  only  spirit  is  most  likely  peculiar  to 
God  alone  ;  but  that  they  are  exempt  from  the  gross  mate- 
riality of  bodies  like  our  o\vn.  By  calling  them  spirits, 
our  Lord  would  probably  remind  us  of  the  facility  with 
which  they  obtain  access  to  our  minds,  and  would  put  us 
on  our  guard  against  the  subtlety  of  their  operations.  The 
circumstance  that  we  are  ignorant  of  the  way  in  which 
they  reach  our  mind,  is  no  objection  whatever  to  the  doc- 


238  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

trine  that  they  do  reach  it ;  our  incapability  of  tracing 
many  of  our  sensible  impressions  beyond  the  mere  sensa- 
tion itself,  leaves  the  fact  of  such  impressions  unques- 
tioned. Besides,  a  priori,  we  should  have  thought  it  more 
unlikely  that  matter  should  act  upon  mind,  that  material 
objects  should  act  on  that  which  seems  to  have  no  property 
in  common  with  them,  than  that  mind  should  act  upon 
mind,  two  homogeneous  subtances  on  each  other.  Yet 
experience  tells  us,  that  the  former  action  is  always  going 
on  in  the  process  of  our  mental  perceptions;  and  the  latter, 
we  presume,  is  all  that  is  meant,  physically,  by  Satanic 
agency:  of  which,  indeed,  a  counterpart  and  illustration 
is  to  be  found,  in  the  action  of  one  human  mind  upon 
another. 

Nor  is  the  doctrine  invalidated  by  the  objection,  that  we 
are  unconscious  of  such  extraneous  influence  ;  this  only 
shows  the  facility  with  which  the  Tempter  acts,  and  is  the 
triumph  of  his  art.  He  so  times  and  modulates  his  whis- 
pers, that  we  mistake  them  for  the  voice  of  our  own 
thoughts :  so  conceals  his  agency,  that  while  we  fancy  we 
are  sailing  before  the  impulse  and  floating  down  the  stream 
of  our  own  free  volitions,  his  hand  is  on  the  helm;  thus 
flattering  our  pride,  scoffing  at  our  weakness,  and  steering 
our  destiny  at  the  same  time.  We  ourselves  suppose  that 
there  is  an  established  order  in  which  our  thoughts  suc- 
ceed each  other;  that  detached  and  promiscuous  as  they  ap- 
pear to  be,  they  are  linked  together  with  all  the  strength 
and  sequence  of  a  chain, and  the  principle  which  thus  unites 
them,  we  call  the  principle  of  suggestion,  the  law  of  associa- 
tion. Now,  admitting  the  existence  of  such  a  law,  a  law 
common  to  all  minds,  like  gravity  to  all  matter;  operating 
by  mental  affinity  and  attraction — it  is  only  to  suppose  that 
Satan  has  mastered  this  principle :  that  the  result  of  the 
experience  of  many  thousand  years,  in  studying  the  struc- 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  239 

ture,  watching  the  movements,  and  experimenting  on  the 
properties  of  mind  is,  that  he  knows  the  universal  bearing 
and  operation  of  this  principle;  and  what  a  fearful  amount  of 
power,  what  an  immense  command  over  the  human  mind, 
Eiay  he  possess  in  the  knowledge  of  this  principle  alone. 

But  whatever  the  grand  secret  of  his  dreadful  art  may 
he,  the  strongest  language  is  but  barely  equal  to  express 
the  reality  of  the  power  which  he  wields  over  the  mind. 
He  is  represented  as  actually  'entering  into  the  heart;** 
becoming  the  gloomy  and  fearful  inmate  of  the  soul; 
mingling  his  very  essence  with  the  being  of  a  sinner. 
'  Get  thee  behind  me  Satan,'  said  Christ  to  Peter,  when 
that  apostle  acted  the  part  of  the  Tempter.  *  And  one  of 
you,  said  he:  when  speaking  of  the  traitor,  '  one  of  you  is 
a  devil.'  Evil  is  no  doubt,  at  times,  attributed  to  Satan, 
not  because  he  has  directly  produced  it,  but  because  he  loves 
it ;  and  those  who  have  wrought  it  have  imbibed  his  spirit, 
and  are  employed  in  his  service ;  such,  therefore,  may  ap- 
propriately take  their  name  from  him  from  whom  they 
have  derived  their  nature. 

To  excite  our  most  solicitious  avoidance  of  the  enemy,  as 
well  as  to  describe  his  nature,  he  is  repeatedly  called,  by 
Christ,  an  unclean  spirit.  It  is  not  every  unclean  thing 
that  offends  the  sight,  while  the  slightest  stain  upon  some 
things  will  excite  in  us  deep  dislike;  the  feeling  depends 
entirely  on  the  nature  of  the  thing,  and  the  purpose  to 
which  it  is  applied.  We  pass  by  an  unclean  stone  unno- 
ticed ;  it  is  unconscious  of  its  state,  and  was  meant  to  be 
trampled  under  foot.  But,  rising  a  step  higher  in  the  scale 
of  creation,  to  an  unclean  plant,  we  become  conscious  of  a, 
slight  emotion  of  dislike;  because  we  see  that  which  might 
have  pleased  the  eye,  and  have  beautified  a  spot  in  the  crea- 
tion,  disfigured  and  useless.  An  unclean  animal  excites 
our  dislike  yet  more  ;  for,  instead  of  proving  useful  in  any 


240  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

way,  it  is  merely  a  moving  pollution.  Bat  an  unclean 
human  being  excites  our  loathing  more  than  all :  it  pre- 
sents our  nature  in  a  light  so  disgusting-,  that  it  lessens 
our  pity  for  him,  if  he  be  miserable,  and  excites  in  us  ideas 
of  disease,  contamination,  and  pain.  But  an  unclean  spirit! 
— it  is  loathsome  above  all  things  ;  it  is  the  soul  and  essence 
of  pollution;  it  is  the  uncleanest  object  in  the  universe; 
it  is  a  spectacle  which  excites  the  deep  dislike  of  God 
himself.  His  dislike  of  it  is  all  the  more  intense,  because, 
originally,  it  was  pure,  and  capable  of  making  perpetual 
advances  towards  divine  perfection ;  whereas,  now,  it  pre- 
sents itself  to  his  eye,  robbed  of  all  its  purity,  and  defiled 
in  all  its  powers,  a  fountain  of  pollution.  It  is  so  utterly 
unfit  for  its  original  employment  and  state,  that  the  pure 
and  holy  God  has  no  alternative,  but  to  banish  it  from  his 
presence  as  a  spiritual  nuisance,  and  to  consign  it  to  the 
place  which  he  has  reserved  *  for  every  thing  that  defileth.' 
To  yield  to  temptation,  then,  is  to  put  ourselves  into  the 
hands  of  him  with  whom  contact  is  contamination  :  it  is  to 
receive  into  the  centre  of  our  being  the  great  spirit  of  un- 
cleanness;  and  to  let  our  own  spirits  be  degraded  into  the 
sink  of  essential  pollution.  How  unspeakably  precious  to 
the  sinner,  sensible  of  his  ingrained  defilement,  is  'the 
fountain  opened  for  sin  and  uncleanness.' 

When  the  unclean  spirit  is  gone  out  of  a  man,  he  walk- 
eth  through  dry  places,  seeking  rest,  and  findeth  none. 
Then  he  saith,  I  will  return  into  my  house  from  whence  I 
came  out ;  and  when  he  is  come,  he  findeth  it  empty,  swept 
and  garnished.  Then  goeth  he,  and  taketh  with  himself 
seven  other  spirits  more  wicked  than  himself,  and  they 
enter  in  and  dwell  there;  and  the  last  state  of  that  man  is 
worse  than  the  first.'  This  awful  picture  of  demoniacal 
possession,  is  expressly  stated,  by  Christ,  to  be  a  parabolical 
representation  of  the  Jewish  nation.  But  its  applicabili* 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  241 

ty  to  a  nation,  warrants  the  propriety  of  applying  it  to  cer- 
tain states  of  the  individual  sinner.  And  what  an  affecting 
view  does  it  present  of  the  untiring,  encroaching1,  all-en- 
grossing power  of  the  enemy  !  how  solemnly  does  it  warn 
us  to  resist  his  first  approaches !  Having  obtained  a  lodg- 
ment in  the  heart  of  the  ungodly,  he  consults  their  vicious 
taste  panders  to  their  depraved  appetites,  and  thus  seeks  to 
make  himself  necessary  to  their  peace.  In  the  sin  which 
most  easily  besets  them  he  finds  his  power,  and  a  conven- 
ient avenue  by  which  he  can  always  command  an  entrance 
and  a  welcome  to  the  inmost  chambers  of  their  souls. 
They  arise  in  the  morning,  without  being  able  to  say 
whether  he  will  have  gained  a  fresh  triumph  over  them 
before  night  or  not:  they  have  so  often  yielded,  that  they 
feel  it  will  only  depend  on  whether  they  are  tempted  or 
not :  if  he  comes  in  the  shape  of  their  favorite  sin,  they  will 
surrender  again  as  a  matter  of  course.  They  perceive,  in- 
deed, some  of  the  evil  consequences  which  will  attend  it ; 
they  dread  his  approach  ;  they  foresee  that  it  will  occa- 
sion them  anguish  afterwards  ;  but  he  has  only  to  appear 
in  the  form  of  the  tyrant  sin,  and  they  throw  themselves 
prostrate  at  his  feet,  while  he  casts  his  chain  around  them 
once  more.  From  the  moment  he  achieves  his  first  triumph, 
he  seeks  to  make  the  heart  '  his  house  ;'  till,  having  trans- 
muted it  into  his  own  nature,  though  he  should  go  through 
the  whole  world  seeking  rest,  he  would  find  none  so  con- 
genial as  that  human  house.  Circumstances  may  occur 
which  may  induce  him  for  a  time  to  quit  his  residence. 
But  if  during  that  interval  divine  grace  does  not  seize  the 
throne  of  the  heart,  it  will  again  be  reclaimed,  and  re-en- 
tered with  a  large  reinforcement  of  the  enemy,  and  held 
with  a  seven-fold  power.  He  will  patiently  wait  if  neces- 
sary, till  they  have  outlived  the  alarm  which  led  to  his 
withdrawment ;  wait  till  they  have  passed  through  every 
15 


242  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

downward  stage  of  fear,  doubt,  indifference,  obduracy,  en- 
mity ;  wait  for  years  till  he  is  again  solicited  to  return  and 
resume  his  power.  Then  does  he  avenge  his  temporary 
expulsion  with  fearful  rigor.  Every  faculty  of  the  mind 
is  entered  and  possessed.  The  serpent  sin  coils  around 
the  heart,  and  infixes  his  fangs,  with  a  power  which  threat- 
ens never  to  unloose. 

Are  we  disposed  to  entertain  hard  thoughts  of  that  ar- 
rangement of  the  divine  government  which  permits  our 
exposure  to  satanic  wiles  ?  It  should  be  enough  for  us  to 
remember  that  God  will  finally  justify,  not  only  this,  but 
all  his  ways  to  man.  This  arrangement,  however,  is  only 
part  of  that  all-encircling  mystery — the  origin  of  evil — so 
that  to  notice  it  here  would  be  gratuitously  to  misplace  it. 
We  will  only  suggest,  therefore,  in  passing,  that  the  divine 
Being,  in  not  preventing  satanic  temptation  by  the  arbi- 
trary exercise  of  power,  is  only  acting  consistently  with 
the  requirements  of  a  moral  government ;  a  government 
which  opposes  principle  by  principle,  and  not  by  physical 
force  or  coercion;  that,  as  the  virtue  of  good  men  finds  an 
appropriate  sphere  for  action,  and  is  improved  by  resisting 
the  influence  of  the  wicked,  so  it  is  highly  probable  the 
excellence  of  the  holy  angels  is  exercised  and  advanced  by 
their  efforts  to  counteract  the  powers  of  evil ;  that  the  Al- 
mighty may  be  considered  as  doing  every  thing  necessary 
to  vindicate  his  benevolence,  by  counterbalancing  the  agen- 
cy of  the  evil,  by  the  activity  of  his  holy  angels:  while, 
in  superadding  to  their  activity  in  our  behalf,  the  omnipo- 
tent aid  of  his  Holy  Spirit,  he  is  greatly  magnifying  his 
grace;  that,  in  securing  the  final  triumph  of  that  kingdom 
which  embraces  all  the  elements  of  moral  good  over  that 
which  comprehends  every  thing  of  evil,  he  is  entitling 
himself  to  an  infinite  revenue  of  glory ;  and,  finally,  that 
a  principal  ingredient  in  the  happiness  of  the  redeemed, 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  243 

will  result  from  a  clear  and  comprehensive  survey  of  those 
tremendous  powers  of  evil  over  which  they  will  have  tri- 
umphed. 

In  the  mean  time,  it  should  be  borne  in  mind,  that  in  no 
instance  in  which  Satan  acquires  dominion  over  the  sin- 
ner does  he  obtain  it  by  force;  the  means  which  he  em- 
ploys are  perfectly  compatible  with  human  freedom  ;  so  that 
the  surrender  of  the  sinner  is  voluntary,  he  sells  himself 
to  work  iniquity.  If  the  enemy  sow  tares  in  the  field  of 
the  church,  or  of  the  individual  mind,  it  is  done  'while 
men  sleep;'  if  he  'cometh,  and  catcheth  away  the  good 
seed  sown  in  the  heart,'  it  is  when  the  subject  of  it  '  under- 
starideth  it  not ;'  does  not  lay  his  mind  to  it ;  or,  if  he  re-en- 
ters the  soul,  after  a  transient  absence,  with  seven-fold 
strength,  it  is  only  when  *  he  finds  his  house  empty,  swept, 
and  garnished,'  to  welcome  his  return.  The  sole  secret 
of  his  power  over  us,  is  to  be  found  in  our  own  depravity; 
the  soul  may  be  '  set  on  fire  of  hell,'  the  live  coal  may  be 
brought  from  the  infernal  fires,  but  the  combustible  materi- 
als were  already  collected  and  laid. in  the  depraved  soul. 
And,  accordingly,  though  our  depravity  is  frequently  as- 
cribed to  '  the  wicked  one,'  yet  his  agency  is  never  alleged 
as  an  excuse  for  our  sinfulness,  but,  on  the  contrary,  as  its 
last  aggravation. 

We  have  already  remarked  that  the  days  of  the  reign 
of  Satan  are  numbered:  the  chain  which  is  to  bind  him  is 
forged,  and  the  fires  which  shall  encircle  him  are  already 
kindled,  *  the  breath  of  the  Lord  like  a  stream  of  brim- 
stone hath  kindled  them.'  And  the  day  is  appointed  when 
they  who  have  lived  his  willing  slaves  shall  find  them- 
selves involved  in  the  coils  of  the  same  chain,  and  envelop- 
ed in  the  same  penal  fires.  The  Judge  of  all  '  shall  say  un- 
to them  on  his  left  hand,  Depart,  ye  cursed,  into  everlasting 
fire,  prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels.'  Those  who 


244  THE       GREAT       TEACHER, 

have  tempted,  and  they  who  have  embraced  temptation 
are  the  two  classes  which  comprise  all  the  pollution  in  the 
universe;  as  such,  the  besom  of  destruction  shall  sweep 
them  together  into  one  place  ;  as  the  refuse  of  sin,  the  nui- 
sance and  leavings  of  the  creation,  Gehenna,  the  recepta- 
cle of  all  the  elements  of  pollution,  shall  enlarge  its  capa- 
cious bosom  to  receive  them  ;  where,  as  the  appropriate 
fuel  of  almighty  wrath,  they  shall  '  burn  together,  and 
none  shall  quench  them.' 


SECTION    VI. OF    THE    IMMORTALITY     OF    THE    SOUL; 

RESURRECTION    OF    THE    BODY. 

1 1  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life.' 

THAT  question  in  religion  which  takes  precedence  of 
every  other ;  the  existence  of  God  excepted  ;  and  which 
gives  character  and  importance  to  them  all,  is  the  ancient 
inquiry,  entailed  \vith  unabated  interest  on  each  succeed- 
ing generation,  *  If  a  man  die,  shall  he  live  again  ?'  In 
dependent  of  revelation — if  indeed  any  of  the  human  race 
have  ever  been  quite  independent  of  it — men  have  gener- 
ally anticipated  a  future  existence,  as  a  doctrine  harmoniz- 
ing with  their  desires  and  wants,  and  with  the  character  of 
a  righteous  moral  governor.  The  instinctive  horror  with 
which  the  soul  recoils  from  the  thought  of  annihilation ; 
its  ardent  longing  after  a  perpetuity  of  life,  and  its  strong 
presentiment  of  it ;  its  constant  progress  in  knowledge  and 
power  up  to  the  moment  of  death ;  its  capability  of  ab-N 
stracting  itself  from  this  world,  and  conceiving  of  univep 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  245 

sal  natures,  and  nobler  states  of  being;  the  prodigality 
with  which  it  lavishes  its  great  powers  on  unworthy  ob- 
jects, owing  to  the  inadequacy  of  every  thing  earthly  to 
engage  them ;  the  necessity  of  the  hope  of  immortality  to 
develope  and  give  scope  to  its  latent  powers  ;  and  the  prin-  • 
ciples  and  design  of  a  moral  government,  in  punishing  sin 
and  rewarding  virtue ;  these  considerations  are  so  many 
steps  by  which  men  have  emerged  from  the  sepulchre,  as- 
cended the  throne,  and,  in  hope,  seized  the  crown  of  im- 
mortality. Now  throughout  the  kingdom  of  animated 
nature,  wherever  an  organ  or  faculty  is  to  exist  character- 
istic of  the  species  to  which  it  belongs,  a  kind  of  pre-as- 
surance  is  given,  a  practical  anticipation  that  it  will,  by 
and  by,  be  developed  :  nor  is  this  prophecy  ever  falsified. 
The  most  perfect  human  being  is,  at  best,  in  this  world, 
nothing  more  than  an  unfinished  sketch  of  humanity ;  a 
creature  full  of  these  pre-assurances  and  anticipations  of 
future  development,  and  final  perfection :  unless,  then,  his 
instincts  and  essential  principles  are  a  splendid  false- 
hood ;  unless  the  divine  signatures  impressed  on  his  na- 
ture be  a  forgery,  a  grave  imposture,  unless  humanity  it- 
self be  a  lie,  a  deep-laid  conspiracy  against  all  right  and 
happiness,  we  are  warranted  in  the  hope  of  immortality. 
Under  the  government  of  a  righteous  Being,  we  naturally 
look  for  an  illustration  of  his  character  in  his  works ;  we 
ponder  the  volume  of  nature,  and  find  it  to  contain  one  vast 
and  compacted  argument  for  the  divine  perfections  ;  but 
deny  to  man  a  future  existence,  and  the  argument  is  flaw- 
ed, and  the  character  of  God  which  it  professes  to  vindi- 
cate, stands  impeached. 

We,  however,  who  enjoy  the  light  of  the  gospel,  are  lia- 
ble to  over-rate  the  argument  derived  from  nature,  and  to 
forget  that,  to  those  who  sit  in  darkness  and  the  shadow  of 
death,  nothing  short  of  a  divine  revelation  can  give  to  the 


246  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

hope  of  immortality  stability  and  repose.  For,  in  that 
consciousness  of  guilt  which  is  common  to  all  mankind,  a 
suspicion  arises  in  the  rnind  that  the  natural  course  and  or- 
der of  things  have  been  deranged,  a  shadow  of  uncertainty 
comes  over  our  best  reasoned  speculations,  and  we  feel 
at  a  loss  to  say  what  course  the  king  of  a  boundless  em- 
pire may  see  fit  to  pursue  towards  the  rebellious  subjects 
of  an  insignificant  province.  Here  the  opinions  of  a  Soc- 
rates, and  a  Plato,  of  a  Cicero  and  a  Seneca,  though  often 
quoted,  are  only,  at  best,  the  conflicting  conjectures  of 
minds  alternating  between  hope  and  fear.  They  beheld 
with  dismay,  the  human  race  walking  in  gloomy  proces- 
sion to  the  grave:  and,  as  they  saw  them  disappear  in  the 
land  of  shadows,  they  sought  with  strained  and  untiring 
gaze,  to  follow  their  steps  and  learn  their  fate  ;  and  had 
not  revelation  come  to  our  aid,  their  opinions  would  have 
deserved  respect,  and  would  have  often  passed  the  lips  of 
the  dying  in  the  stead  of  truths.  But  they  themselves 
were  conscious  of  distressing  doubt :  while,  at  one  time, 
they  spoke  as  from  the  skies  :  at  another,  they  uttered  the 
language  of  the  sepulchre ;  according  as  hope  or  fear 
was  the  oracle  of  the  moment. 

Revelation  authenticates  the  hope,  and  fulfills  the  obscure 
predictions,  of  this  great  instinct  of  humanity — and  endless 
existence.  It  did  so,  partially,  under  the  Jewish  dispensa- 
tion: at  one  time,  darkly  hinting  the  doctrine,  to  magnify 
the  hopes  or  fears  of  men ;  and,  at  another,  pourtraying  it 
in  definite  forms,  to  engage  their  faith  :  now,  dispatching  a 
messenger  from  the  unseen  world;  and,  now,  clothing  a 
prophet  with  the  terrors  of  an  unearthly  visitant,  and  plant- 
ing him  in  their  way  to  bring  them  to  a  stand  by  warning 
them  of  a  fearful  something  beyond.  But  the  light  which 
it  held  over  the  sepulchre  flickered,  did  not  burn  so  strong 
but  that  it  might  have  been  extinguished  by  the  deadly  va- 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  247 

pors  of  the  tomb :  and  hence  the  views  of  his  disciples  wa- 
vered also  ;  sometimes  speaking  in  tones  of  depression,  as 
if  their  whole  horizon  were  the  walls  of  a  charnel-house  ; 
at  other  times  by  a  kind  of  lofty  divination  peculiar  to  the 
wise  and  good  of  every  age,  (for  every  good  man  is  in  a 
sense  a  prophet,)  making  near  approaches  to  the  truth ; 
anticipating  revelations  reserved  for  after  times  :  and  then, 
again,  seizing  their  harp,  and  singing  their  triumphant 
song,  as  if  their  immortality  had  already  begun. 

But  the  full  revel'ation  and  proof  of  the  doctrine  of  a 
future  state  were  reserved  to  grace  the  mission 'of  him  who 
in  his  own  person,  is  'the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life.' 
We  do  not,  indeed,  conceive  these  to  have  been  the  chief 
or  specific  design  of  his  advent ;  though  it  is  a  part  of  the 
glory  of  that  design  that  it  includes  them  :  *  he  hath 
brought  life  and  immortality  to  light  by  the  gospel.'  If 
he  found  them  problems,  he  left  them  anxioms  ;  promoted 
them  to  the  rank  of  postulates  in  his  system  of  truth ; 
made  them  the  basis  of  the  whole  Christian  fabric.  Hea- 
then philosophy  halted  at  the  grave;  ancient  revelation  ac- 
companied its  disciples  a  little  beyond,  conducting  them 
into  Sheol,  Hades,  the  unknown  state;  Christianity  comes 
to  our  aid  in  the  very  moment  of  desertion,  stands  to  receive 
us  at  the  very  place  of  parting  with  every  other  religion, 
graciously  approaches  and  offers  its  guidance  up  to  the 
throne  of  God.  If,  prior  to  the  coming  of  Christ,  the  doc- 
trine of  immortality  was  undefined  and  unsubstantial  ;  if, 
like  the  spectral  phantom  of  Eliphaz,  the  believer  could 
only  say  of  it,  '  It  passed  before  my  face  :  it  stood  still ;  but 
I  could  not  discern  the  form  thereof : '  he  may  be  said  to 
have  embodied  the  truth,  to  have  fashioned  and  imperson- 
ated it  in  his  own  own  glorious  body.  Having  rolled 
away  the  stone  from  the  sepulchre  of  human  hope,  he  in- 
vites us  to  look  in  and  instead  of  the  dust,  and  darkness, 


THE      GREAT       TEACHER. 

and  loathsomeness  proper  to  the  grave,  we  behold  the  lin- 
en clothes  lying  by  themselves  ' — the  apparel  of  the  prison- 
house  vacated  and  left — and  angels  in  white  sitting  to  re- 
assure our  hope,  and  point  us  to  the  skies. 

I.  In  naming  the  most  original  features  of  our  Lord's 
teaching  on  this  subject,  the  first,  in  order,  is  the  doctrine 
of  an  intermediate  state.  Pre-supposing  the  immateriality 
and  immortality  of  the  soul,  he  frequently  employed  lan- 
guage which  denotes  the  active  existence  of  the  soul  be- 
tween death  and  the  resurrection.  '  Fear  not  them,'  said 
Christ  to  feis  disciples  ;  *  fear  not  them  who  kill  the  body, 
but  are  not  able  to  kill  the  soul.'  Then  the  soul  and  the 
body  are  distinct  existences  :  the  body  may  be  slain,  and 
yet  the  soul  escape.  But  insensibility  would  be  virtual 
destruction  to  the  soul ;  for  we  cannot  conceive  how  a 
thinking  being  can  be  more  destroyed  than  by  losing  the 
power  of  thought:  then  the  soul  will  not  cease  to  think. 
But  the  only  reason,  why  the  soul  is  indestructible  by 
man,  must  be  its  immateriality ;  the  body  he  can  destroy, 
for  that  is  material;  and  if  the  soul  resulted  from  any  sub- 
tilization,  juxta-position,  or  combinations  of  brute  atoms, 
that  could  be  apprehended,  burnt,  divided,  exhausted,  ex- 
ploded, destroyed  also.  But,  no,  saith  Christ,  '  it  is  not  de- 
structible by  man.'  The  suicide  has  no  weapon  with 
which  he  can  reach  the  soul.  Persecution,  though  it  has 
taxed  its  ingenuity  to  the  utmost,  and  has  called  in  the  in- 
ventive aid  of  him  who  is  a  murderer  from  the  beginning, 
has  failed  to  devise  any  instrument  with  which  it  could 
seize  and  torment  the  soul:  has  felt  and  inwardly  cursed 
its  impotence,  that  in  consuming  the  body  of  its  victim,  it 
was  actully  releasing  the  immortal  soul.  The  soul  has 
nothing  to  do  with  death  ;  if  persecution  will  have  the 
body,  the  soul  surrenders  it,  leaves  it  behind,  drops  it  in  the 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  249 

grave  and  passes  on  to  immortality.  Indeed,  had  the  con- 
trary sentiment  prevailed,  there  is  reason  to  conclude  that 
Christianity  would  have  had  a  much  smaller  number  of 
martyrs  to  boast;  they  would  have  shrunk  from  death,  not 
to  avoid  the  physical  suffering,  but  the  loss  they  were  call- 
ed to  sustain,  the  dreary  suspension  of  all  the  enjoyments 
the  gospel  had  brought  them  ;  that  would  have  given  to 
death  a  new  sting.  Bat  the  fearful  apprehension  never 
seems  to  have  visited  their  minds.  A  primary  article  in 
their  martyr-creed  was  this;  'Absent  from  the  body,  pres- 
ent with  the  Lord.'  They  felt  that  their  noblest  life  had 
its  root  in  heaven  ;  that  their  spiritual  existence  .was  '  hid 
with  Christ  in  C4od ;  '  was  seated  high  up,  beyond  reach, 
jnthe  very  fountain  and  summit  of  creation.  At  thought 
of  this,  the  apparatus  of  death  became  consecrated  in  their 
eyes,  as  the  means  of  their  admission  to  his  presence ;  the 
instruments  of  torture  glowed  with  a  glory  reflected  from 
his  throne  ;  the  flames  were  chariots  of  fire  to  convey  them 
in  triumph  to  their  appointed  thrones. 

The  doctrine  of  an  intermediate  existence  is  recognised 
by  Christ,  in  the  parable  of  the  rich  man  and  Lazarus : 
where  we  learn  that  the  former,  dying,  lifted  up  his  eyes, 
being  in  torment ;  while  the  latter  was  straightway  con- 
veyed, by  angels,  to  Abraham's  bosom.  Spirits  are  evoked 
by  Christ,  from  heaven  and  hell,  to  attest  an  intermediate 
state.  He  would  have  us  to  read  the  doctrine  by  the  lurid 
glare  of  infernal  flames,  and  by  the  radiance  of  a  celestial 
vision.  He  taught  it  also  in  the  light  which  he  flashed 
on  the  divine  declaration,  '  I  am  the  God  of  Abraham,  and 
the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob : '  v  God,'  said  he, 
*  is  not  the  God  of  the  dead,  but  of  the  living.'  The  Al- 
mighty had  uttered  this  three  hundred  years  after  the 
death  of  AbraHam :  now,  whatever  relation  he  may  sus- 
tain to  the  lifeless  body,  and  to  the  inanimate  creation  at 


250  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

large,  he  can  only  be  said  to  be  a  God  to  the  living  soul. 
On  the  former  he  can  only  bring  to  bear  his  natural  at- 
tributes, can  only  exercise  mechanical  power;  while  on  the 
latter,  he  can  turn  the  full  aspect  of  his  moral  perfections, 
can  bring  his  transcendental  attributes,  the  peculiar  glory 
of  his  character,  can  bring  all  his  nature  into  active  com- 
munication with  theirs.  Whatever  he  may  do  to  mere 
matter,  he  does  to  an  unconscious  object,  to  a  thing  which 
can  return  him  no  look  of  gratitude,  no  expression  of  affec- 
tion ;  while  the  soul  finds  its  heaven  in  his  smile,  and  he 
beholds  the  reflection  of  his  image  in  its  face.  Wherefore, 
1  he  is  not  ashamed  to  be  called  its  God  : '  by  which  we  are 
to  understand  that  he  glories  to  be  called  so ;  he  tells  it  to 
the  universe;  boasts  of  the  relationship ;  is  willing  to  be 
judged  of  by  his  treatment  of  his  spiritual  offspring  ;  is  pre- 
pared to  rest  his  claims  to  universal  homage  on  the  glorious 
provision  to  which  he  brings  them  in  heaven  ;  is  so  satisfied 
with  that  illustration  of  his  excellence  which  he  beholds  in 
the  present  condition  of  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  per- 
fect, that,  could  we  see  their  blessedness,  he  would  be  con- 
tent to  be  known  only  as  their  God  ;  and  accordingly,  one 
of  the  titles  which  he  has  adopted,  and  graven  on  his  crown 
of  light,  informs  us  that  he  is  *  the  Father  of  Spirits.' 

Another  declaration  of  Christ,  to  the  same  import,  is  his 
memorable  reply  to  the  expiring  malefactor,  'Verily,  I  say 
unto  thee,  to-day  shalt  thou  be  with  me  in  paradise,'  The 
sense  of  this  passage  has  been  made  by  some,  indeed,  to 
turn  on  a  question  of  punctuation.  But  receiving  it  in  its 
general  acceptation  ;  the  only  acceptation  we  apprehend, 
which  common  sense  will  ratify;  we  learn  from  it  the  ca- 
pability of  the  soul  to  exist  independently  of  the  body  ;  the 
instant  transition  of  the  soul,  at  death,  to  the  state  adapted 
to  its  moral  character ;  and  the  fact,  that  it  there  immedi- 
ately enters  on  its  endless  portion. 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  251 

II.  The  resurrection  of  the  body  was  a  dogma  already 
familiar  to  the  Jews  ;  but  this  doctrine  our  Lord  illustrated, 
amplified,  and  confirmed.  Aware  that  it  formed  the  key- 
stone of  Christianity,  he  may  be  said  to  have  labored  out 
the  proof  of  it  till  he  brought  it  to  demonstration.  *  Ye  do 
err,'  said  he  to  the  Sadducees,  who  denied  a  resurrection, 
'not  knowing  the  scriptures  nor  the  power  of  God.5 
Here,  first,  he  dismisses  the  question  of  its  possibility  by 
placing  it  at  once  in  the  hands  of  omnipotence.  Secondly, 
he  places  around  the  doctrine  a  guard  of  divine  declara- 
tions ;  thus  reminding  us,  that  if  God  has  said  the  dead 
shall  be  raised,  the  event  is  as  certain  as  if  it  had  already 
occurred  and  become  matter  of  history.  And,  thirdly, 
he  alleges  as  a  reason  for  the  event,  the  relation  which 
God  sustains  to  his  people — '  he  is  their  God  ;  and  is 
bound,  therefore,  by  a  pledge  voluntarily  given,  to  do  eve- 
ry thing  for  them  essential  to  their  well-being  :  but  the  res- 
toration of  their  bodies  is  essential  to  the  integrity  of  their 
nature;  then  his  faithful-ness  is  pledged  to  restore  them. 
Besides,  he  is  the  God  of  the  living ;  but  a  constituent 
part  of  their  nature  is  held  in  captivity  by  death,  then  to 
vindicate  his  title  as  their  God,  he  must  effect  the  redemp- 
tion of  the  body,  and  replenish  it,  in  common  with  the  soul, 
with  immortal  life.  Agreeably  to  this  declaration,  the  Sav- 
iour elsewhere  affirms,  '  This  is  the  Father's  will  who  hath 
sent  me,  that  of  all  which  he  hath  given  me,  I  should  lose 
nothing,  but  should  raise  it  up  again  at  the  last  day.'  He 
was  commissioned  by  the  Father  to  accomplish  the  work 
of  redemption,  in  a  manner  worthy  of  him  whose  peculiar 
distinction  it  is,  that  *  his  work  is  perfect.'  He  holds  him- 
self responsible,  therefore,  for  the  re-production  of  the  bo- 
dies of  all  his  people  :  he  has  set  his  seal  upon  each  of  their 
graves ;  and,  of  all  that  he  holds  in  trust,  he  declares  that 
he  will  lose,  not  merely  not  one,  but  '  nothing' — not  a  frac- 


252  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

lion,  not  a  particle  essential  to  one  of  the  bodies  of  his 
saints.  During  the  short  period  that  he  himself  remained 
in  the  grave,  he  held  his  person  dishonored  by  the  bond- 
age; and,  till  the  morning  of  the  resurrection  arrive,  he 
regards  his  people  as  dishonored ;  the  completion  of  his 
engagement,  and  the  perfection  of  his  reward,  require  that* 
*  of  all  which  have  been  given  him  he  should  lose  nothing} 
But  our  Lord  did  not  limit  his  proof  of  a  resurrection  to 
words  ;  he  proceeded  to  demonstrate  the  truth  by  an  ap- 
peal to  our  senses.  On  one  occasion,  he  released  an  indi- 
vidual whom  death  had  just  made  his  prisoner.  On  an- 
other occasion,  he  met  the  king  of  terrors  at  the  gate  of  a 
city,  conveying  a  victim  to  the  grave;  and  he  arrested  his 
march,  and  reclaimed  the  prey.  And,  on  a  third  time,  he 
brought  Lazarus  forth  from  the  grave,  who  had  been  dead 
four  days.  On  that  occasion,  he  had  intentionally  delayed 
„  to  interfere,  that  the  process  of  decomposition  might  com- 
mence; he  had  given  to  death  every  possible  advantage; 
he  had  voluntarily  kept  away,  till  death  should  be  in  full 
possession  ;  till  the  monster  had  not  merely  seized  his  vic- 
tim, but  had  retired  with  him  into  the  gloomy  dominions 
of  the  grave,  till  he  had  there  closed  and  barred  up  the  en- 
trance, and  fortified  himself,  as  in  a  strong  hold,  which  none 
should  dare  to  assail,  and  where  he  might  reign  secure. 
But  Jesus  summoned  the  citadel  of  death,  broke  open  the 
enclosure  of  the  grave,  and  with  a  voice  which  compelled 
submission,  demanded,  and  restored  to  life,  his  deceased 
friend. 

And  then,  to  complete  and  consummate  the  proof  of  a  res- 
urrection, he  himself  arose  from  the  dead.  The  way  in 
\vhichthatgrand  event  demonstrates  the  doctrine  of  our 
resurrection  is  this — he  came  into  the  world  in  the  high 
capacity  of  the  Son  of  (Sod,  and  the  Saviour  of  mankind. 
In  that  capacity  he  proclaimed,  that,  having  provided  sal- 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  %DO 

vation  for  the  human  race,  he  would  come  again  when  his 
plans  of  mercy  were  completed,  to  raise  the  dead  and  to 
judge  the  world.  To  prove  that  he  was  what  he  claimed 
to  be,  and  that  he  would  fulfil  what  he  predicted,  he  announ- 
ced, that  he  himself  would  arise  from  the  dead  on  the 
third  day  after  his  decease.  '  Then  said  Jesus  unto  them, 
When  ye  have  lifted  up  the  Son  of  man,  then  shall  ye  know 
that  I  am  he,  and  that  I  do  nothing  of  myself;  but  as  my 
Father  hath  taught  me,  I  do  these  things.'  '  Destroy  this 
temple,  and  in  three  days  I  will  raise  it  up  again.'  He 
descended  into  the  dreary  domains  of  death  ;  disappeared 
in  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death  ;  and  for  a  time  a 
darkness  deeper  than  that  which  enwrapped  the  earth  at 
his  crucifixion  seemed  settling  down  on  the  prospects  of 
mankind,  and  turning  his  tomb  into  the  grave  of  immortali- 
ty. But  on  the  morning  of  the  appointed  day,  he  came 
forth  as  he  had  said,  stood  at  the  mouth  of  the  sepulchre, 
radiant  with  immortality,  planted  the  banner  of  hope  on  the 
citadel  of  death,  and  called  on  the  world  to  behold  and 
share  in  his  triumph.  Then  he  is  the  Son  of  God  ;  then 
he  will  come  again  to  raise  the  dead  :  here  are  the  unde- 
niable stamp  and  seal  of  heaven  that  all  his  representations 
of  the  last  great  day  were  true,  and  will  certainly  be  veri- 
fied. 

III.  Among  the  numerous  additions  which  he  made 
to  our  knowledge  of  the  doctrine  in  question,  we  may 
name,  first,  the  fact,  that  he  himself  will  raise  the  dead. 
4  Jesus  answered,  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  The  hour 
is  coming,  and  now  is,  when  the  dead  shall  hear  the  voice 
of  the  Son  of  God  :  and  they  that  hear  shall  live.'  Wheth- 
er this  prediction  related  to  the  approaching  resurrection 
of  Lazarus  and  others,  or  to  the  ti$e  of  spiritual  life  which 
was  about  to  flow  through  the  world  in  the  diffusion  of  the 
gospel,  is  uncertain,  Perhaps,  indeed,  his  comprehensive 


254  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

mind  may  have  looked  forward  to  both  ;  it  is  evident,  how- 
ever, that  the  sublimity  of  the  prediction,  and  the  solemni- 
ty of  the  asseveration  with  which  he  prefaced  it,  awoke 
in  the  minds  of  many  of  his  hearers,  vast  and  awful  ideas 
of  some  impending  event,  ideas  which   impressed  marks 
of  astonishment  on  their  anxious  countenances.     Remark- 
ing that  astonishment,   perceiving,   by  their  eager  and  at- 
tentive looks,  that  they  were  now  prepared  to  receive  a  still 
more  stupendous  announcement,  he  continued,  *  Mavel  not 
at  this;'    'I  perceive  that  what  I  have  already  said   has 
filled  you  with  wonder,  and  well  it  might ;  but  attend  and 
you  shall  hear  still  greater  things  than  these  ;  for  the  hour 
is  coming,   in  the  which  all  that  are  in  their  graves  shall 
hear  his  voice,  and  shall  come  forth  ;  they  that  have  done 
good,  to  the  resurrection  of  life;  and  they  that  have  done 
evil  unto  the  resurrection  of  damnation.'      There  was  a 
time  when  no  life  existed  ;    when  the  earth,  just  brought 
into  being,  presented  one  universal  blank,  no  vital  motion, 
no  breathing  life  upon  it.     But  he  spake,  and  it  was  done  ; 
for  his  word  is  the  seed  of  universal  nature,  the  principle 
of  all  life.     His  fiat  went  forth,  and  instantly  whole  orders 
of  sentient  beings  sprang  into  happy  existence.     His1  good- 
ness opened,  and  burst  forth  in  a  creation  ;   and  earth  was 
made  the  receptacle  of  his  vast  overflowing  life.     His  voice 
was  heard;  and  forthwith  the  surface  of  the  earth  teemed 
and  overflowed  with  an  ocean  of  living  forms.      *  But  by 
one  man  sin  entered  into  the  world,  and  death,  by  sin,  and 
so  death  passed  upon  all  men,  for  that  all  have  sinned  P 
Since  that  tremendous  catastrophe  death  has  reigned  upon 
earth  ;    there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  his  ravages  are 
known  in  any  other  part  of  the  dominions  of  God ;    this 
is  his  native  seat  and  throne;  here  he  keeps  court  and  re- 
gal state  ;  God  has  been  constantly  replenishing  the  world 
with  new  life ;  but  in  every  age,  death  has  swept  and  cleared 


HIS        ORIGINALITY.  255 

the  stage,  has  thrown  a  pall  over  each  generation,  has  not 
allowed  the  grave  to  be  closed,  the  hatchment  of  the  world 
to  be  taken  down  for  a  moment,  has  carried  every  thing 
before  him.  We  and  oar  contemporaries  are  the  few  sur- 
vivors of  the  myriads  that  have  fallen,  the  children  of  the 
slain,  and  we  shall  soon  be  added  to  the  number.  Oh, 
could  we  see  the  numberless  victims,  which  have  fallen 
beneath  his  stroke  accumulated  together,  we  should  behold 
a  mountain  of  mortality  towering  to  the  skies ;  but  he  has 
hid  them  all  in  the  dust,  has  conveyed  them  all  away  to 
his  subterraneous  caverns,  his  ever-enlarging  prison  of 
the  grave. 

Now  it  was  not  fit  that  death  should  thus  reign  :  though 
we,  indeed,  had  deserved  to  be  left  in  his  eternal  posses- 
sion, yet  it  did  not  comport  with  the  benevolent  designs  and 
glory  of  God,  that  death  should  be  thus  allowed  to  enjoy 
an  undisturbed  triumph,  over  the  work  of  his  hands.  He 
therefore,  who  at  first  had  peopled  the  earth  with  living 
beingvS,  again  returned  to  survey  the  scene,  to  check  the 
career  of  death,  to  repair  the  waste  and  ravages  which 
death  had  made.  And,  oh!  what  a  mournful  sight  pre- 
sented itself  to  his  eyes ;  a  pestilential  element  breathed 
by  death  over  the  whole  creation,  withering  all  nature, 
causing  the  entire  universe  of  being  to  languish,  and  droop, 
and  perish  ;  the  world,  his  world,  which  was  meant  to  be 
the  pleasant  habitation  of  his  creatures,  turned  into  their 
grave  ;  the  shadow  of  death  settled  down  upon  all,  and  en- 
wrapping it  like  a  funeral  pall  signifying  that  all  was  his. 
What  a  pitiable  spectacle  stretched  beneath  his  view  ! — For, 
remember,  he  surveyed  the  whole  at  one  comprehensive 
glance  ;  mothers  weeping  for  their  children,  and  refusing 
to  1  e  comforted  because  they  were  not ;  every  where  groups 
of  mourners  collected,  weeping  over  those  whom  death 
had  seized,  bound,  and  made  captive  in  their  presence; 


*50  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

long  processions  of  bereaved  relatives,  following  the  car  of 
death  as  if  to  grace  his  triumph,  and  uttering  their  lamen- 
tations in  their  march  to  the  grave :  on  all  sides,  the  tro- 
phies of  death,  erected  in  the  shape  of  tombs,  and  sepulchres 
and  monumental  stones.  What  must  have  been  his  emo- 
tions, as  the  Lord  of  life  and  pity,  as  he  walked  the  field 
of  death,  this  place  of  skulls  !  What  were  his  emotions  ? 
Did  he  not  show  what  they  were  by  his  conduct  ?  l  He 
healed  all  manner  of  sickness,  and  all  manner  of  diseases 
among  the  people ;'  in  other  words,  he  defeated  the  de- 
signs of  death  ;  drew  out  the  arrows  which  death  had  infix- 
ed, and  healed  the  wounds  they  had  made.  Even,  had  he 
done  nothing  to  redeem  the  world,  his  visit  would,  still 
have  been  an  era  in  the  annals  of  mortality ;  the  Lord  of 
life  walking  through  the  regions  of  death.  No  wonder 
the  sick  and  the  dying  came  flocking,  and  fell  down  at  his 
feet;  no  wonder  they  besought  him  to  shelter  and  save 
them  from  the  monster  which  even  dared  to  chase  them 
into  his  presence.  And  did  he  not  save  them?  he  healed 
them  all ;  death  paused,  and  stood  rebuked  in  his  presence; 
found  himself  overmatched;  discovered,  for  the  first  time, 
that  there  was  one  mightier  than  he.  And  had  all  the 
world  brought  out  their  sick  and  their  dying,  Christ  could 
have  healed  them  all ;  thus  famishing  death  ;  thus  creating 
a  hiatus  in  the  revenues  of  death.  Nor  was  this  all :  he 
called  some  back  into  life  again;  and  humbled  the  power 
of  death  by  compelling  him  to  relinquish  his  prey. 

Do  we  ask  what  his  feelings  must  have  been  as  he  tra- 
versed this  Golgotha,  this  land  of  death?  (  Jesus  wept !' 
yes,  he  stood  and  wept!  And  as  he  wept,  he  resolved  to 
remedy  and  to  save.  He  advanced  to  the  very  gates  of  death 
and  proclaimed  with  a  voice  which  went  pealing  and  echo- 
ing through  all  the  dominions  of  death,  and  made  even 
the  throne  of  the  king  of  terrors  vibrate  and  tremble,  ' '. 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  257 

am  the  resurrection  and  the  life  ; '  *  I  will  be  known  as  the 
antagonist  of  death  ;  let  my  actions  prove  it ; '  Lazarus, 
come  forth;  and  he  that  was  dead  came  forth.'  There, 
said  Christ,  '  He  that  believeth  in  me,  though  he  were  dead 
yet  shall  he  live.'  '  That  is  only  a  specimen  of  my  de- 
signs. I  am  the  great  principle  of  life  ;  if  I  choose,  I  could 
now  raise  all  the  dead  ;  I  could  end  the  reign  of  death  at 
once;  I  have  only  to  speak,  and  all  the  dead  would  recog- 
nize my  voice,  and  start  into  life;  but  wisdom  requires  me 
to  forbear  ;  this  is  meant  as  an  instance  of  my  power,  a 
sample  of  my  designs.'  *  Marvel  not  at  this  therefore ;  for 
the  hour  is  coming,  in  the  which  all  that  are  in  the  graves 
shall  hear  the  voice  of  the  Son  of  man  and  shall  come 
forth ;  they  that  have  done  good  unto  the  resurrection  of 
life ;  and  they  that  have  done  evil  unto  the  resurrection  of 
damnation.' 

IV.  In  opposition  to  the  Pharisees — the  principal  sect 
at  that  time  among  the  Jews — who  taught  that  the  resur- 
rection would  be  partial,  being  confined  to  the  bodies  of 
the  just,  our  Lord  taught  that  it  would  be  general.  God 
works  by  laws,  and  laws  operate  universally  :  every  ac- 
tion, and  every  atom  in  the  universe  has  its  own  law;  is 
impressed  with  certain  qualities,  or  endued  with  certain 
powers  which  operate  with  all  the  certainty  of  a  law.  It 
was  the  appointment  of  God,  that  the  sin  of  the  first  Adam, 
as  the  federal  head  of  the  human  race,  should  bring  in  a 
law  of  death,  and  the  law  has  acted  universally — all  have 
died.  It  is  equally  his  appointment,  that  the  mediation  of 
the  second  Adam,  the  Lord  from  heaven,  standing  in  the 
same  federal  relation,  should  bring  in  a  law  of  life;  he 
was  pleased  to  endue  it  and  impress  it  with  this  vital  pro- 
perty or  law  ;  and  unless  it  should  meet  with  counteraction 
from  a  mightier  law,  which  is  impossible,  it  must  act  uni- 
16 


2^0          THE   GREAT   TEACHER. 

versally.  'As  in  Adam  all  die,  so  in  Christ  shall  all  be 
made  alive.'  It  is  the  perfection  of  a  law,  that  it  includes 
all  possible  cases  that  may  occur,  and  has  relation  to  an 
infinite  number  of  cases  that  never  will  exist ;  so  that,  had 
the  actual  numbers  of  the  human  race  been  multiplied 
ten  thousand-fold,  the  law  of  death  would  have  swept  them 
all  into  the  grave;  and,  '  the  law  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus/ 
would,  with  an  operation  co-extensive,  have  revived  them 
again.  '  All  that  are  in  the  grave,  shall  hear  his  voice 
and  shall  come  forth.' 

Besides,  it  should  be  remembered,  that  the  resurrection 
is  not  a  final  act ;  it  is  to  take  place  in  subserviency  to  the 
divine  purposes  of  retribution  ;  so  that  the  principles  of  the 
holy  government  of  God  require  that  it  should  be  univer- 
sal. Less  than  the  resurrection  of  all  would  not  satisfy 
the  claims  of  the  righteous  Judge.  Were  one  of  his  peo- 
ple to  be  lacking,  his  mercy  could  not  be  satisfied ;  his 
mystical  body  would  be  maimed  and  deficient  in  an  essen- 
tial member.  Were  one  of  the  ungodly  to  be  absent,  his 
justice  could  not  be  satisfied.  Whether  good  or  evil,  all 
will  be  raised;  every  age,  every  nation,  every  family,  every 
individual  of  all  the  posterity  of  Adam.  Death  shall  be 
abolished  and  swallowed  up  in  victory.  Not  only  shall 
its  operation  be  arrested,  its  ravages  stopped,  but  all  the 
victims  which  it  has  seized  from  the  beginning  of  time  shall 
be  reproduced  and  restored.  It  shall  behold  all  the  or- 
ganized materials  which  it  had  dissolved,  and  scattered, 
and  trampled  in  the  dust,  and  labored  to  efface  from  the 
creation,  collected  and  surrounded,  and  acted  upon  on  all 
sides  with  a  principle  of  life ;  and  rising,  as  from  a  sleep, 
clothed  with  incorruption.  It  shall  behold  its  empire  van- 
ish in  a  moment,  by  the  insurrection  of  all  its  subjects  arm- 
ed with  immortality.  Many  of  the  greatest  empires  of 
antiquity  are  not  only  extinct  and  their  boundaries  effaced, 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  259 

but  even  the  seat  of  their  power  is  only  10  be  known  by 
colored  dust  in  the  desert,  or  by  colored  sand  washed  up 
by  the  waves  of  a  stormy  sea ;  but  of  the  empire  of  death, 
not  a  vestige  shall  be  left ;  not  a  particle  of  dust,  if  search- 
ed for,  shall  remain  for  its  memorial :  life,  an  ocean  of 
victorious  life,  shall  overflow  and  swallow  it  up. 

V.  We  may  also  infer  from  the  teaching  of  our  Lord, 
that  the  bodies  raised  will  be  identical  with  those  commit- 
ted to  the  grave.  '  They  that  are  in  the  graves  shall  come 
forth.'  *  Of  all  that  the  Father  hath  given  me,  I  will  lose 
nothing,  but  will  raise  it  up  at  the  last  day.'  Indeed,  the 
very  term  resurrection  implies  this  identity  ;  otherwise, 
the  bodies  produced  in  the  last'day  wrould  be,  not  a  resur- 
rection, but  a  creation,  like  that  of  the  first  man.  And  the 
design  of  the  resurrection  requires  it;  the  purposes  of 
justice  demand  that  the  beings,  who  shall  then  appear  in 
judgment,  should  be  the  identical  beings  who  have  been 
here  on  probation.  To  the  objection  of  the  sceptic,  that 
the  rapid  waste  and  supply  of  our  animal  frame,  the  suc- 
cession of  bodies  we  may  be  said  to  inhabit,  renders  this 
identity  inconceivable,  we  deem  it  sufficient  to  reply  in 
the  language  of  Christ,  '  Ye  do  err,  not  knowing  the  scrip- 
tures, nor  the  power  of  God.'  It  should  however  abate 
his  confidence,  if  not  entirely  silence  the  objector ;  that, 
on  his  principle,  neither  punishments  nor  rewards  could 
be  justly  dispensed,  even  in  this  life ;  since  the  material 
structure  changes  so  rapidly,  that  in  the  lapse  of  a  few 
years  not  a  particle  of  the  primitive  body  remains.  He 
would  not  think  of  asserting,  we  presume,  that  he  himself 
is  not  now  the  identical  individual  he  was  at  the  time  of 
his  birth  :  that  the  decrepit  body  of  the  aged  debauchee  is 
suffering  unjustly  for  the  intemperance  of  his  youthful 
frame;  that  it  would  be  unrighteous  to  punish  the  murder- 
er for  a  crime  which  he  perpetrated  when  his  body  was 


260  THE      GREAT       TEACHER. 

composed  of  other  particles;  or,  that  he  himself,  in  conse- 
quence of  a  similar  change,  has  no  title  to  property  left  him 
a  few  years  ago.  His  common  sense  protects  him  from 
such  absurdities  in  the  affairs  of  this  life;  and  we  will 
leave  him  to  assign  to  himself  a  reason,  if  he  can,  why  it 
should  desert  him  only  in  the  province  of  religion  ;  let  him 
say,  what  is  the  interpretation  to  be  put  on  the  conduct  of 
him  who  reserves  all  his  hostility  for  religion,  and  who 
evinces  that  ^ostility  by  availing  himself  of  weapons  which 
he  would  not  stoop  to  employ  against  any  other  object. 
But  among  the  various  triumphs  of  the  resurrection-day, 
one  will  be  the  triumph  of  common  sense;  and  let  him  re- 
member that,  even  while  he  has  been  cavilling,  and  we  re- 
plying, the  hour  of  retribution  has  come  nearer;  and  that 
the  indestructible  principle  of  conscience,  the  principle 
which  runs  through  our  being,  giving  continuity  and  identi- 
ty to  that  being,  through  an  eternity  of  existence,  has  actual- 
ly gathered  strength  while  we  have  been  thus  communing, 
and  increased  its  store  of  materials  for  future  joy  or  woe. 

VI.  We  have  already  shown  that  the  doctrine  of  im- 
mortality is  not  distinctive  of  the  Christian  system  ;  it  is, 
we  think,  equally  clear,  that  the  honor  of  describing  the  na~ 
ture,  and  providing  the  means  of  a  resurrection  to  everlast- 
i?ig  happiness  is  peculiar  to  Christ  alone.  Blind  to  the  fact 
of  their  departure  from  God,  numbers  are  satisfied  with 
believing  the  bare  immortality  of  their  nature  ;  here  their 
inquiries  terminate  ;  the  happiness  of  that  nature  they  take 
for  granted  as  a  matter  of  course  ;  they  confound  existence 
with  enjoyment ;  an  error  this  which  many  a  heathen 
would  have  blushed  to  own.  Though  sitting  in  the  shad- 
ow of  death,  they  were  sufficiently  enlightened  to  perceive 
that  an  immortality  of  misery  is  quite  as  possible  to  sinful 
creatures  as  an  eternity  of  bliss ;  they  would  have  regard- 
ed him,  who  should  have  brought  to  them  the  proof  of  im- 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  261 

mortality,  as  conferring  a  very  equivocal  boon,  unless  he 
could  also  sow  that  immortality  with  the  seeds  of  happiness ; 
and  henc.e,  while  they  labored  to  demonstrate  a  future  state, 
decidedly  the  greater  part  of  their  endeavors  were  directed 
to  the  task  of  exploring  the  character  and  will  of  the  Di- 
vinity, and  of  descrying  the  nature  of  the  regions  beyond 
the  grave,  with  a  view  to  provide  for  their  future  enjoyment. 
Now,  while  the  teaching  of  Christ  pre-supposes  the  im- 
mortality of  the  soul,  to  him  belongs  the  grand  distinction 
of  having  proved  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  and  provid- 
ed for  the  endless  happiness  of  the  whole  man  in  heaven. 
Had  he  not  made  this  essential  provision,  his  instructions 
would  only  have  illuminated  the  darkness  of  the  world, 
as  with  flames  ascending  from  the  bottomless  pit,  would 
only  have  painted  more  dreadful  colors  on  the  gloom 
which  has  gathered  around  the  seat  of  the  Invisible ;  and 
he  himself  might  be  reproached  as  tormenting  us  before 
our  time  ;  but,  having  made  our  happiness  and  our  immor- 
tality consistent  and  co-extensive,  what  can  equally  deserve 
our  attention  with  the  way  in  which  he  has  '  brought  it  to 

light.' 

1.  By  this  essential  divinity  he  possesses  the  power  of 
defeating  death,  and  of  opening  to  the  soul  unbounded  re- 
sources of  pure  and  eternal  enjoyment.  He  declared  that 
'  he  has  life  in  himself,  so  that  he  can  quicken  whom  he 
will.'  '  I,'  said  he,  '  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life.'  *  I 

am the  life.'     This  is  language  appropriate  to  the 

Deity  alone:  for  life,  properly  speaking,  inhabits  none 
besides.  Life  in  him  is  essence  ;  but  of  the  highest  creat- 
ed beings  it  can  only  be  said  that  they  live,  that  they  are 
the  offspring,  the  dependent  recipients  of  his  essence. 
However  large  their  capacities,  and  replenished  with  life, 
still  they  are  infinitely  nearer  to  nothing,  than  to  absolute 
and  essential  life.  So  that  he  <  who  only  hath  immortality,' 


262  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

though  he  hath  surrounded  himself  with  an  universe  of 
life,  still  retains  to  himself  the  prerogative  of  swearing, 
As  I  live. ;  and  of  announcing,  /  am  ;  and,  I  am  life  ;  he 
only  hath  immortality  in  its  fulness  and  essence ;  and  all 
the  oceans  of  vitality  circulating  through  the  universe  take 
their  rise  in  him,  *  with  whom  is  the  fountain  of  life ;'  *  he 
filleth  all  in  all.'  But  if  it  belongs  to  him  alone  to  say, '  I 
am  life,'  when  surrounded  'by1  *  the  living  creatures,'  the 
princes  of  immortality  above,  with  what  a  heightened  em- 
phasis could  he  repeat  it  in  this  region  of  death ;  here, 
where  life  was  always  conditional,  and  in  jeopardy  from 
the  first ;  here,  where  comparatively  a  very  small  portion 
of  being  had  been  distributed  at  first ;  where  that  little  had 
been  invaded,  forfeited,  wasted;  where  death  was  actually 
in  full  possession.  He  came  into  a  land  of  sepulchres  ; 
found  himself  standing  in  a  grave,  with  death  for  a  com- 
panion laboring  to  tread  out  and  trample  in  the  dust  the  last 
spark  of  human  life.  And,  lifting  himself  up  into  an  atti- 
tude of  supreme  dignity,  he  said  with  a  voice  which  is 
still  echoing  through  the  subterranean  realms  of  death,  '  I 
am  the  resurrection  and  the  life.'  '  I  am  the  ark  in  which 
all  the  life  is  contained  that  shall  finally  issue  to  people  a 
world  now  deluged  with  death.  From  me  proceeds  all 
the  redundancy  of  life  at  this  moment  replenishing  the 
universe;  and  I  will  cause  a  stream  of  vitality  Jo  set  in 
and  flood  the  earth.' 

2.  But  power  and  right  are  distinct  things,  and,  among 
men,  are  frequently  opposed  to  each  other.  It  is  however 
the  glory  of  Him  who  can  do  all  things,  that  he  does  only 
that  which  is  right ;  that  his  power  waits  on  his  justice, 
and  takes  law  from  infinite  rectitude.  Now  he  had  pro- 
nounced it  right  that  man  should  die  ;  how  then  can  he 
reverse  the  sentence  without  impeaching  its  rectitude,  and 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  263 

appearing  to  judge  himself?  And  yet  Jesus  asserts  to 
himself  the  right  of  restoring  the  dead  to  life,  selects  for 
himself  a  title  descriptive  of-  this  work,  and  demands  to 
be  known  by  it,  as  his  most  honorable  and  favorite  ap- 
pellation. 

The  problem  is  solved,  when   we  hear  him  affirm  that 
he  had  come  to  give   his  life  a  ransom  for  many ;  that,  as 
the  good  shepherd,  he  proposed  to  lay  down  his  life  for 
the  sheep.     Death  was  the  punishment  of  transgression  ; 
it  was   in  perfect  accordance- with  right  that  the  penalty 
should  be  inflicted,  in  order  that  holiness  might  be  protect- 
ed, that  sin  might  be   discouraged,  and  that  the  divine 
determination  to  maintain  the  law  and  order  of  his  govern- 
ment might  be  emphatically  proclaimed.     If  however,  an 
expedient  can  be  devised  by  which  all  these  ends  can  be 
equally  answered,  without  the  infliction  of  the  penalty, 
right  will  be  satisfied,  and  concede  the  exemption.     That 
expedient  is  found  in  the  incarnation  and  death  of  the  Son 
of  God.     By  voluntarily  stooping  from  his  glory,  assuming 
our  nature,  and  suffering  before  the  eyes  of  the  universe, 
all  that  humanity,  sustained  by  divinity,  could  endure,  he 
has  answered  the  very  ends  which  our  punishment  would 
have  secured,  and  infinitely  more  ;  he  has  placed  the  hate- 
fulness  of  sin,  and  the  holiness  of  God,  in  a  focus  of  light 
which  will  make  itself  to  be  seen  by  every  eye ;    he   has 
at  once,  inflicted  a  death-blow  on  the  power  of  sin,  given 
a  triumph  to  justice,  secured  life,  eternal  life  to  man ;  and 
distinguished  an  attribute  which  would  have  been  for  ever 
eclipsed  had  justice  taken  its  original  course,  the  attribute 
of  Infinite  Love.     The  nature  of  his  reward  was  determin- 
ed, pre-determined,  by  the  nature  of  his  work  ;  he  died,  in 
order  to  exempt  us  from  death.     Having  received  his  re- 
ward, having  purchased  us  out  of  the  hands  of  offended 
justice,  and  made  us  his  own  property,  he  may  now  em- 


264  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

ploy  the  right  he  has  acquired  in  us  as  he  pleases. 
Death,  in  its  judicial  character,  is  abolished.  He  is  at  lib- 
erty either  to  exempt  his  people  entirely  from  death,  to  in- 
sert an  exception  in  their  favor  in  the  universal  commission 
of  death  ;  or,  permitting*  the  sentence  of  mortality  to  take 
effect,  to  restore  them  to  life  afterwards,  and  place  them  for- 
ever beyond  the  reach  of  death.  His  wisdom  prefers  the 
latter  course.  By  allowing  them  to  depart  from  earth  in 
the  ordinary  way,  through  the  portal  of  death,  he  leaves 
undisturbed  the  existing  arrangements  of  providence,  avoids 
many  palpable  evils,  and  secures  in  addition,  many  valua- 
ble ends.  But  while  he  allows  this  arrangement  to  hold, 
he  would  have  his  people  to  know  that  it  is  not  forced  on 
him:  that  it  is  the  choice  of  his  own  benignity;  that  he 
sways  an  unchallenged  sceptre  over  the  whole  empire  of 
hades ;  that  in  respect  to  his  people,  the  shadow  of  death, 
wherever  it  falls,  may  be  regarded  as  the  shadow  of  that 
sceptre,  for,  at  their  death,  *  he  comes  to  receive  them  to 
himself.' 

3.  But  sin  involves  a  spiritual  as  well  as  a  physical 
death.  We  have  seen  that  Christ  possesses  the  power  of 
re-animating  the  body ;  and  that  he  is  invested  with  the 
right;  but  it  is  evident  that  these  may  both  be  exercised  to 
the  punishment  of  men,  '  for  some  shall  come  forth  to  the 
resurrection  of  damnation.'  The  great  question  then 
which  remains,  is,  whether  or  not  he  possesses  the  means 
of  calling  us  forth  to  an  immortality  of  happiness.  *  I  am 
come,'  said  he,  'that  they  may  have  life,  and  that  they  may 
have  it  more  abundantly.'  '  Whoso  eateth  my  flesh  and 
drinketh  my  blood,  hath  eternal  life,  and  I  will  raise  him 
up  at  the  last  day.'  *  Whosoever  drinketh  of  the  water 
that  I  shall  give  him  shall  never  thirst ;  but  the  water  that 
I  shall  give  him  shall  be  in  him  a  well  of  water  springing 
up  into  everlasting  life.'  '  This  spake  he  of  the  Spirit, 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  265 

which  they  that  believe  on  him  should  receive.'  By  the 
agency  of  his  Holy  Spirit,  he  conducts  in  his  people,  in 
the  present  life,  a  moral  process  by  which  they  experience 
a  resurrection  to  holiness.  The  hour  is  not  only  coming, 
but  now  is,  when  the  dead  hear  the  voice  of  the  Son  of 
God:  and  they  that  hear  it  live.  Starting  from  the  slum- 
bers of  sip,  they  awake  to  newness  of  life,  and  attire  them- 
selves in  the  garments  of  salvation.  Dissevering  them- 
selves from  their  former  bonds,  they  ask  to  be  trained  for 
every  duty  his  service  may  require,  and  pant  to  enjoy  all 
the  happiness  his  kingdom  may  contain.  Conscious  that 
they  are  once  more  breathing  the  only  atmosphere  in  which 
the  soul  can  live — the  complacent  favor  of  God — they  feel 
within  themselves  an  earnest  of  immortality  ;  feel  that  the 
new  principle  of  which  they  have  been  made  the  subjects 
has  nothing  to  fear  from  death,  that  it  is  made  for  eternity, 
that  it  can  smile  at  the  decay  of  the  body,  and  will  soon 
spring  from  the  bed  of  death  to  immortality. 

And,  from  the  fact  that  they  have  been  made  the  parta- 
kers of  a  divine  principle,  there  arises  to  believers  this 
new  pledge  of  a  resurrection  to  eternal  life — that  Christ 
has  engaged  to  raise  them  as  a  part  of  his  own  being. 
This  truth  he  himself  distinctly  taught ;  'As  the  living 
Father  hath  sent  me,  and  I  live  by  the  Father :  so  he  that 
eateth  me,  even  he  shall  live  by  me  ; ' — *  he  dwelleth  in  me, 
and  I  in  him; ' — 4 1  will  raise  him  up  at  the  last  day ; '  — 
4  because  I  live,  ye  shall  live  also.'  He  became  one  flesh 
with  us,  in  order  that  we  might  become  one  spirit  with 
him.  Here  is  a  two-fold  bond  subsisting  between  Christ 
and  his  people  :  but  the  former  of  these  they  possess  only 
in  common  with  all  mankind,  it  allies  him  to  the  species, 
and  by  virtue  of  it,  all  the  ungodly  shall  be  raised.  The 
spiritual  bond,  however,  is  peculiar  to  themselves  ;  it  has 
been  tied  by  his  own  hand,  and  nothing  shall  be  able  to 


266  THE       GREAT       TEACHER, 

separate  it.  By  virtue  of  this  union  it  is  that  believers 
shall  arise;  not  merely  by  an  act  of  his  power,  for  thus 
the  wicked  shall  arise,  but  by  an  extension  of  his  life  as 
their  life.  To  the  ungodly  he  can  say,  *  I  am  the  resur- 
rection ; '  but  to  the  faithful  alone,  he  proclaims,  *  I  arn  the 
resurrection  and  the  life,'  The  grave  was  the  prison-house 
of  insulted  justice;  and  as  their  Representative  he  bowed 
himself  down,  and  condescended  to  wear  its  fetters ;  but 
his  enlargement  and  return  from  it  shows  that  it  no  longer 
retains  its  original  character  ;  he  has  changed  it  into  the 
peaceful  depository  of  their  dust ;  the  treasury  of  the  skies ; 
they  contemplate  his  grave  as  the  basement-ground  whence 
their  nature  takes  its  spring  to  immortality. 

So  ample  and  sufficient  are  the  preparatory  measures 
which  Christ  has  taken  for  the  final  extinction  of  death, 
that  he  speaks  of  it  in  terms  of  comparative  disparagement 
and  indifference.  So  effectually  is  it  disarmed  and  mutil- 
ated, and  so  completely  at  the  disposal  of  Christ,  that  he 
speaks  of  it  already  as  if  it  were  not.  '  Whosoever  be- 
lieveth  in  me,  shall  never  die.'  '  Tf  a  man  keep  my  say- 
ings he  shall  never  taste  of  death,  he  shall  never  see  death.' 
In  accordance  with  these  representations,  he  has  given  to 
the  state  of  death  the  soft  and  tranquilizing  name  of  sleep. 
This  use  of  the  term,  indeed,  was  not  unknown  to  Jewish 
saints ;  but  as  applied  by  them  to  death,  it  denoted  chiefly 
the  silence,  darkness,  and  inactivity  of  the  grave.  The 
Greeks,  too,  had  long  been  accustomed  to  speak  of  death 
in  the  softest  terms  ;  the  dead  they  often  spoke  of  as  the 
departed,  the  worn  out  ;  and  called  their  burial-grounds, 
dormitories  or  sleeping  places.'  But  this  arose  partly 
from  the  dislike  they  felt  to  allude  to  a  gloomy  and  unwel- 
come subject;  and  partly  from  a  wish  to  propitiate  the  de- 
ceased, of  whom  they  stood  in  considerable  dread.  How 
superior  the  sense  in  which  Jesus  employed  the  term,  sleep ! 


HIS      ORIGINALITY.  267 

they  used  it  as  figure,  but  he  turned  it  into  a  reality ;  they 
uttered  it  from  fear,  but  he  made  it  the  language  of  hope 
and  of  faith.  He  used  it  with  the  highest  authority,  for 
he  was  about  to  awaken  one  of  the  sleepers  from  his  sleep ; 
and,  however  protracted  the  slumbers  of  his  people  may 
be,  he  knew  that  they  are  all  finally  to  hear  his  voice  and 
to  come  forth. 

Dense  as  the  gloom  is  which  hangs  over  the  mouth  of 
the  sepulchre,  it  is  the  spot,  above  all  others,  where  the 
gospel,  if  it  enters,  shines  and  triumphs.  In  the  busy 
sphere  of  life  and  health,  it  encounters  an  active  antago- 
nist:  the  world  confronts  it,  aims  to  obscure  its  glories,  to 
deny  its  claims,  to  drown  its  voice,  to  dispute  its  progress, 
to  drive  it  from  the  ground  it  occupies.  But  from  the 
mouth  of  the  grave  the  world  retires  ;  it  shrinks  from  the 
contest  there  ;  it  leaves  a  clear  and  open  space  in  which 
the  gospel  can  assert  its  claims,  and  unveil  its  glories  with- 
out opposition  or  fear.  There  the  infidel  and  the  world- 
ling look  anxiously  around,  but  the  world  has  left  them 
helpless  and  fled.  There  the  Christian  looks  around,  and 
lo,  the  angel  of  mercy  is  standing  close  by  his  side.  The 
gospel  kindles  a  torch,  which  not  only  irradiates  the  val- 
ley of  the  shadow  of  death,  but  throws  a  radiance  into  the 
world  beyond,  and  reveals  it  peopled  with  the  sainted  spir- 
its of  those  who  have  died  in  Jesus.  It  descends  with  us 
into  the  low  chambers  of  the  grave  ;  bids  us  look  on  its 
silent  inmates  ;  and  to  look  on  them  with  the  persuasion 
that  they  only  sleep.  It  assures  us  that  death,  like  sleep, 
is  not  the  destruction  of  the  living  principle,  but  only  a 
temporary  change  in  the  mode  of  its  operation ;  that,  like 
sleep,  it  is  a  state  of  rest,  discharging  us  from  all  the  con- 
cerns of  the  world  ;  that,  like  sleep,  it  principally  affects 
the  body,  the  activity  of  the  soul  being  meantime  continu- 
ed, and  perhaps  greatly  increased  ;  and,  most  of  all,  that, 


268  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

like  sleep,  it  will  not  be  perpetual,  but  only  endure  for  a 
night.  It  tells  us  that  a  day  will  dawn  on  the  world,  when 
Jesus,  assuming  an  aspect  of  infinite  benignity,  will  say, 
in  effect,  of  all  his  sleeping  saints,  as  he  said  of  Lazarus, 
£  I  go  to  awake  them  out  of  sleep.' 

O  how  vast  the  immortal  awakening  !  Who  can  lift 
his  mind  to  the  greatness  of  the  occasion  !  Where  is  the 
height  from  which  we  can  command  a  view  of  the  sublime 
spectacle  ?  In  prospect  of  it,  Jesus  said,  '  The  hour  is 
come,  that  the  Son  of  man  should  be  glorified.  Verily, 
verily,  I  say  unto  you.  Except  a  corn  of  wheat  fall  into  the 
ground  and  die,  it  abideth  alone:  but  if  it  die,  it  bringeth 
forth  much  fruit.5  As  the  first  fruits  of  them  that  sleep,  he 
has  arisen  and  appeared  before  God,  the  certain  pledge  of 
the  great  harvest-home.  '  Put  ye  in  the  sickle,  for  the 
harvest  is  ripe:  multitudes,  multitudes,  in  the  valley  of 
decision.'  The  wide  earth  shall  *  stand  thick,'  and  wave, 
with  that  ocean  plentitude  of  life.  The  produce  of  the 
fields  every  year,  is  a  renewed  triumph  of  life  over  death ; 
but  the  triumph  of  life  on  that  day  will  be  final  and  com- 
plete, leaving  not  an  atom  for  which  death  can  contend. 
It  will  be  a  triumph  of  the  highest  order,  consisting,  not 
in  the  mere  creation  of  new  being,  but  in  the  release  and 
re-animation  of  what  had  been  dragged  away  from  the  ter- 
ritories of  life  ;  death  itself  will  be  turned  into  life,  corrup- 
tion will  put  on  incorruption.  The  triumph  will  be  en- 
hanced by  the  circumstance  that  it  will  be  achieved  on  the 
very  spot  where  death  had  reigned  ;  if  the  power  of  death 
be  confined  to  this  world,  what  an  opprobrium  must  earth 
'  be  to  all  the  regions  of  life,  and  how  naturally  may  it  be 
pointed  at  by  their  inhabitants  as  the  mysterious  sepulchre 
of  life,  the  dishonor  of  the  universe;  but  the  morning  of 
the  resurrection  will  wipe  off  that  disgrace,  will  make 
earth  their  boast  and  song ;  for,  '  there,  they  will  be  able 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  269 

to  say,  there  death  was  overthrown  ;  there  the  great  an- 
tagonist of  life,  after  wasting  the  earth  for  thousands  of 
years,  and  threatening  to  push  the  conquest  into  other 
worlds,  was  expelled  from  the  universe  as  an  evil  no  long- 
er to  be  borne.  And  from  that  very  scene  where  death 
once  reigned,  heaven  has  received  its  largest  influx  of  spir- 
itual and  immortal  life.7  And  to  consummate  the  triumph, 
life  on  that  (Jay  will  be  crowned  with  immortality  ;  it  will 
not  merely  be  restored,  but  ennobled,  exalted  to  the  high- 
est state  of  security  and  glory  it  can  sustain.  From  the 
ruinous  heap  of  every  grave  a  living  structure  shall  arise, 
built  up  into  an  imperishable  monument  of  '  the  Resurrec- 
tion and  the  Life ;'  in  the  stead  of  corruption,  it  shall  be 
inaccessible  to  decay;  'for  neither  can  they  die  any  more, 
they  are  equal  unto  the  angels  ;  and  are  the  children  of 
God,  being  the  children  of  the  resurrection.'  In  the  stead 
of  dishonor  it  will  be  raised  in  glory,  radiating  a  splendor 
which  shall  eclipse  all  sublunary  glory.  In  the  place  of 
weakness,  it  shall  be  clothed  with  the  vigor  of  immortal 
youth,  asking  no  relaxation  or  repose,  the  wings  of  the 
soul  accompanying  and  aiding  it  in  all  its  untiring  flights. 
In  the  place  of  a  natural  body,  it  shall  be  raised  a  spiritual 
body ;  the  original  grossness  of  its  materiality  shall  be 
purged  away,  it  shall  be  refined  and  etherialized  into  spirit, 
a  robe  of  light  rivaling  the  invisible  essence  of  the  soul  it- 
self; while  each  of  its  senses  shall  form  an  inlet  to  floods 
of  enjoyment,  and  each  of  its  organs  be  instinct  and  emu- 
lous with  zeal  for  the  divine  glory. 

Earth  has  been  often  the  scene  of  splendid  triumphs, 
the  fame  of  which  has  filled  the  world  and  reverberated 
from  age  to  age;  but  how  tame,  how  trifling  the  greatest 
achievements  of  man  compared  with  this  !  a  triumph  which 
not  only  effaces  the  remembrance  of  all  that  pan  has  done, 
but  even  eclipses  the  glory  of  the  divine  exploits;  •* the 


270  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

former  things  shall  no  more  come  into  remembrance/ 
Here  man  may  indulge  in  wonder  without  loss  of  dignity  ; 
not  to  be  astonished  here  would  be  unnatural .!  Christ 
himself  is  represented,  ages  before  his  incarnation,  as  con- 
templating this  scene  with  boundless  delight,  as  rehearsing 
his  victory  over  death  from  eternity.  From  the  bosom  of 
the  Father  he  looked  on  through  the  vista  of  time,  while 
the  successive  parts  of  his  great  work  passed  in  slow  and 
stately  procession,  till  he  beheld  the  scene  of  the  rising 
dead  ;  all  the  intermediate  ages  instantly  vanished  :  he  saw 
in  anticipation,  the  king  of  terrors  disarmed  beneath  his 
feet,  the  world  flooded  with  light  and  life,  the  song  of  myr- 
iads of  myriads  reached  his  ear,  shouting  his  name  as  their 
Great  Deliverer ;  and,  with  holy  impatience  to  realize 
the  scene,  he  exclaimed,  *  I  will  ransom  them  from  the 
power  of  the  grave;  I  will  redeem  them  from  death ;  O 
death,  I  will  be  thy  plagues  !  O  grave,  I  will  be  thy  de- 
struction !'  And  during  the  interval  till  he  came  in  the  flesh, 
did  his  interest  in  the  prospect  appear  to  have  evaporated? 
What  truth  did  he  more  frequently  or  solemnly  teach  ? 
Thrice,  in  rapid  succession,  he  exclaimed,  *  1  will  raise 
them  up  at  the  last  day  ;'  as  if  he  sought  to  find,  in  the 
bare  repetition  of  the  truth,  a  solace  and  compensation?  for 
deferring  the  event.  Nor,  since  his  ascension,  does  his 
desire  to  realize  it  appear  to  have  suffered  the  least  abate- 
ment. On  the  contrary,  *  from  henceforth  he  is  expecting' 
till  this  last  enemy  shall  be  destroyed.  When  last  he  ap- 
peared before  his  church,  to  close  the  visions  of  futurity, 
the  character  which  he  selected  for  the  occasion,  was,  '  he 
that  hath  the  keys  of  the  invisible  world,  and  of  death.' 
This  is  the  capacity  in  which  he  will  next  greet  the  eyes 
of  the  redeemed  :  meanwhile,  he  is  training  them  to  raise, 
in  concert  with  himself,  this  shout  over  the  last  of  their 
foes,  'O  death,  where  is  thy  sting?  O  grave,  where  is 
thy  victory  ?' 


* 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  271 


SECTION    VII. OF    THE    FINAL   JUDGMENT. 


'  The  Son  of  man  shall  come  in  his  glory;  and  before  him  shall  be  gathered  all 
nations.' 


WE  have  already  had  occasion  to  remark  that  the  res- 
urrection of  the  dead  will  not  take  place  as  a  final  event  j 
that  it  stands  in  the  relation  of  means  to  an  end,  and  that 
end,  the  general  judgment,  with  its  eternal  awards.  Even 
*  Enoch,  the  seventh  from  Adam,  prophesied  of  that  day, 
saying,  Behold,  the  Lord  cometh  with  ten  thousand  of  his 
saints,  to  execute  judgment  upon  all.'  And  Solomon,, 
when,  in  the  capacity  of  a  preacher,  he  looked  round  the 
universe  for  the  strongest  motive  to  holy  obedience — the' 
motive  which  should  render  it  unnecessary  to  seek  another 
— took  it  from  the  prospect  of  a  judgment  to  come  ;  '  Let 
us  hear  the  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter:  Fear  God,, 
and  keep  his  commandments:  for  this  is  the  whole  duty  of 
man.  For  God  shall  bring  every  work  into  judgment,. 
.  with  every  secret  thing,  whether  it  be  good  or  whether  it 
~be  evil.' 

He- who  '  sees  the  end  from  the  beginning,'  has  imparted 
to  man  a  subordinate  prescience  of  the  same  comprehen- 
sive kind,  has  sketched  on  his  mind  an  outline  of  the  great 
system  of  providence,  and  filled  him  with  presentiments  of 
the  principal  events  which  are  to  attend  the  developement 
of  that  system.  The  consequence  is,  that  wherever  the 
Bible  comes,  it  finds  our  nature  preconfigured  to  many  of 
its  truths,  waiting  for  an  interpreter,  and  ready  to  respond 
to  the  truth  of  many  a  prediction,  as  a  prophecy,  or  an- 


272  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

ticipation  with  which  it  had  long  been  familiar  in  thought, 
and  for  which  it  only  wanted  divine  authentication  and  a 
name  in  order  to  regard  it  as  a  solemn  reality.  Indeed,  in 
this  respect,  the  work  of  God  only  resembles  his  word ; 
for  as  in  his  word,  he  has  often  disclosed  the  infinite  afflu- 
ence of  his  mind  by  revealing,  with  all  the  simplicity  of 
apparent  unconsciousness,  an  eternal  principle  in  a  passing 
word ;  an  infinite  project  in  an  incidental  allusion ;  so, 
in  the  construction  of  the  human  mind,  he  has  traced  on  it 
characters  and  imagery  which  can  only  be  read  by  the 
light  of  eternity ;  thrown  on  it  the  unsteady  shadows  of 
objects  which  stand  yet  far  distant  on  the  plains  of  futurity. 
Of  these  pre-intimations  we  know  of  none  more  deeply 
inlaid  in  the  mind  than  that  of  future  retribution.  That 
the  ancient  saints  lived  in  the  faith  of  it  we  know :  for  the 
spirit  of  inspiration  has  recorded  the  very  words  in  which, 
in  the  prospect  of  that  day,  they  triumphed  over  their  per- 
secutors, and  sang  of  the  joy  that  would  crown  them  in 
4  the  day  of  the  Lord.'  And,  relying  on  the  uniformity  and 
immutability  of  the  human  constitution,  we  may  safely  in- 
fer that  ancient  sinners  anticipated  it  also.  There  were 
moments  when  they  possessed  the  warning  of  its  approach 
iri  the  restless  apprehensions  of  their  own  breasts;  mo- 
ments when  the  fires  of  that  day  seemed  to  rise  up  in  the 
distant  horizon,  and  to  cast  a  lurid  glare  on  the  face  of  their 
startled  and  trembling  conscience ;  when  the  mention  of 
such  a  day  would  have  fallen  in  with  the  smothered  fore- 
bodings of  their  minds;  would  have  aroused  an  inward 
monitor,  which,  however  carefully  laid  to  sleep,  was  ready 
to  awake  at  the  slightest  summons,  and  to  bear  testimony 
in  the  cause  of  righteousness. 

But  though  the  doctrine  of  a  future  judgment  did  not 
originate  in  the  teaching  of  Christ,  though  from  the  earli- 
est ages,  mankind  had  variously  received  it,  yet  the  light 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  273 

they  possessed,  even  the  revealed  light,  did  but  just  suffice 
dimly  to  show  them  the  Judge  enthroned  in  clouds,  and  sur- 
rounded with  judgments;  while,  from  his  superiority  to 
temptation,  his  greatness  and  perfection,  they  inferred  that 
the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  would  do  right.  But  the  person 
of  the  Judge,  the  pomp  and  process  of  the  judgment,  its 
most  solemn  circumstances,  and  affecting  results — all  this 
was  comparatively  unknown  to  them  ;  and  in  supplying 
the  information  our  Lord  has  greatly  enlarged  the  origin- 
al part  of  his  teaching. 

1.  When  speaking  of  the  final  judgment,  it  is  observa- 
ble that  he  seldom  omitted  to  insist  and  enlarge  on  its  pub- 
licity. He  thus  reminds  us,  that  the  end  for  which  there 
is  any  judgment  at  all,  is  best  secured  by  having  it  held 
in  the  presence  of  all  worlds  ;  that  piety  may  be  most  hon- 
ored, sin  most  abashed,  and  the  government  of  God  vindi- 
cated and  glorified,  on  the  largest  possible  scale.  In  a  few 
descriptive  words,  he  fills  the  horizon  with  intelligent  be- 
ings of  all  orders  and  characters.  It  will  not  be  the  judg- 
ment of  a  single  individual,  nor  of  a  nation,  but  of  a  whole 
world  of  intelligent  and  accountable  beings.  It  will  not 
bean  assize  for  sins  of  recent  commission  merely"  sins 
committed  thousands  of  years  before  will  be  reproduced 
and  examined,  with  all  their  circumstances  of  aggravation, 
as  if  they  had  been  only  just  committed.  What  a  profound 
impression  will  that  produce  of  the  holy  character  of  God 
and  of  the  infinite  enormity  of  sin  !  When  his  people 
are  crowned,  he  would  not  have  one  of  their  enemies 
absent :  and  when  the  ungodly  are  doomed,  he  would  not 
have  one  of  the  righteous  absent ;  he  would  have  them  now 
to  forestall  that  day,  to  feel  by  anticipation,  that  they  are 
speaking  with  the  universe  for  their  audience,  and  acting 
in  the  great  theatre  of  the  judgment;  and  then  he  would 
have  them  to  depart  to  their  respective  allotments,  bearing 
17 


274  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

away  with  them  impressions  of  the  hatefulness  of  sin,  and 
the  beauty  of  holiness,  which  shall  remain  uneffaced 
through  all  the  scenes  of  eternity. 

2.  Pursuing  our  examination,  we  recognize  in  the  Judge 
the  person  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  *  The  Son  of  man 
shall  come  in  his  glory,  and  before  him  shall  be  gathered 
a]l  nations.'  '  The  Father  judgeth  no  manr  but  hath  com- 
mitted all  judgment  to  the  Son.'  He  hath  '  authority  to 
execute  judgment  also,  because  he  is  the  Son  of  man;1  in 
his  super-added  humanity,  consists  the  very  reason  of  his' 
appointment.  If  the  judge  is  to  be  seen  on  that  day  with 
our  bodily  eyes,  and  if  realities  are  to  triumph  on  that  day 
over  appearances,  substances  over  shadows,  then  is  it  fit 
that  no  illusion  should  sit  on  the  throne,  that  he  should 
occupy  it,  who  is,  '  without  controversy,  God  manifest  in. 
the  flesh.'  If  that  is  to  be  the  day  of  final  compensation,, 
the  day  in  which  all  the  arrears  of  reward  and  honor  shall 
be  brought  up  to  all  the  sufferers  in  the  cause  of  virtue, 
then  is  it  fit  that  the  Judge,  the  Prince  of  sufferers,  and 
who  is  set  forth  as  the  type  of  happiness  which  holy  suf- 
fering yields,  should  receive,  in  his  .own  person,  the  am- 
plest compensation  ;  that  he  who  submitted  to  be  arraign- 
ed, and  who  occupied  the  cross  here,  should  then  ascend 
the  throne  as  his  proper  reward.  If  it  was  right  that  the 
work  of  salvation  should  be  commenced,  it  must  also  be 
right  that  it  should  be  completed;  and  if  it  was  fit  that 
Christ  should  undertake  it,  then  is  it  fit,  that  in  order  to 
evince  his  competency,  and  reward  his  toils,  he  also  should 
complete  it ;  that  the  honor  of  conferring  the  last  great 
blessings  of  his  grace,  and  of  giving  the  final  application 
to  the  great  principles  of  his  dispensation,  should  be  en- 
joyed by  him  alone.  If  it  was  right  in  God,  so  to  con- 
struct the  plan  of  salvation,  that  in  all  its  workings  it 
should  be  made  to  yield  to  believers,  as  it  does,  the  largest 
possible  measure  of  consolation  and  joy,  then  must  it  be 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  275 

•iijht  also,  that  in  the  person  of  their  Judge  they  should 
recognize  their  Redeemer.  It  will  give  an  additional  value 
to  the  crown  of  life,  that  it  will  be  bestowed  by  the  hand  of 
Christ;  that  the  very  being  who  died  for  them,  who  gave 
them  the  grace  of  repentance,  and  who  awakened  in  them 
the  hope  of  salvation,  should  come  personally  to  realize 
their  hopes,  to  collect  them  around  him,  to  wipe  away  eve- 
ry tear,  to  receive  the  plaudits  of  the  universe  in  their  sal- 
vation ;  this  will  be  the  only  ingredient  their  cup  of  bliss 
will  require,  and  the  last  it  can  receive ;  having  that,  their 
joy  will  be  full.  And  if  it  be  right  that  his  enemies 
.should  be  vanquished,  it  seems  fit  that  he  should  vanquish 
them;  if  it  is  proper  that  unbelievers  should  be  condemn- 
ed, there  appears  a  peculiar  propriety  that,  both  for  their 
greater  conviction,  and  his  greater  exaltation,  the  sentence 
-of  condemnation  should  be  pronounced  by  him. 

And,  oh !  what  an  enhancement  of  their  doom,  will  this 
single  circumstance  contain !  If  a  person  be  conscious 
that  he  is  chargeable  with  ingratitude,  and  with  ingrati- 
tude beyond  forgiveness,  he  would  rather  confront  his 
greatest  foe  than  the  person  he  has  thus  injured.  Were 
any  other  being  than  Christ  to  ascend  the  throne  of  judg- 
ment, or  were  he  any  other  than  he  is,  the  confusion  of  the 
impenitent  sinner  at  appearing  in  his  presence  would  be. 
less  intolerable.  But  when  he  shall  draw  near,  and  be 
compelled  to  look  on  that  injured  goodness,  his  confusion 
will  be  complete.  When  he  shall  behold  him  invested  in 
the  robe  of  humanity,  that  single  sight  will  flash  on  him 
the  recollection  of  all  that  Jesus  did  in  that  nature  to  re^ 
deem  him — the  incarnation,  the  bloody  sweat,  the  cross, 
the  pierced  side — all  will  rise  to  view,  and  penetrate  him 
with  an  agonizing  sense  of  his  ingratitude  and  guilt. 
When  he  shall  heir  the  voice  of  that  injured  Being,  the 
voice  which  he  had  heard  so  often  in  the  gospel,  inviting, 
entreating,  beseeching  Him  in  every  tone  of  gracious  so* 


276  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

licitude,  it  will  vibrate  on  his  ear  more  dreadfully  than  the 
sound  of  the  archangel's  trump  which  called  him  from  the 
grave.  When  the  impenitent  are  represented  as  calling 
on  the  mountains  and  rocks  to  fall  on  them,  \\hat  is  that 
which  they  seek  to  avoid  ?  they  ask  to  be  hidden  from  the 
face  of  Him  that  sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and  from  the 
wrath  of  the  Lamb — the  wrath,  of  the  Lamb.  Had  it  been 
the  fury  of  the  lion ;  had  it  been  the  wrath  of  a  being  who 
had  only  created  them,  given  them  a  law,  and  left  them  to 
obey  it  or  perish  :  who  had  only  been  known  to  them  as  a 
being  of  rigorous  and  unbending  justice;  then,  how- 
ever conscious  of  guilt,  they  might  have  attempted  to  lift 
up  their  hardened  front  in  his  presence.  But  it  is  the 
wrath  of  the  Lamb:  of  a  Being  who  has  always  acted  to- 
wards them  with  infinite  tenderness  and  patience;  who 
became  the  Lamb  of  God,  the  great  sacrificial  victim,  suf- 
fering and  dying  to  take  away  their  guilt :  this  is  the  cir- 
cumstance which  will  render  his  wrath  so  unendurable, 
that  they  will  ask  no  higher  favor  than  to  be  sheltered 
from  the  sight  of  his  face,  and  would  take  the  weight  of 
the  incumbent  earth  as  a  blessed  exchange. 

3.  Our  Lord  very  frequently  spoke  of 'the  pomp  and 
•circumstances  of  the  final  scene.  In  painting  that  coming 
event,  there  is,  no  doubt,  a  propensity  to  overcharge  the 
picture  with  physical  terrors  ;  to  make  it  depend  for  inter- 
est, too  exclusively  on  material  splendors ;  there  is  a  "dan- 
ger of  sinking  the  moral,  and  of  leaving  the  mind  unduly 
occupied  with  images  of  material  grandeur.  And  it  is,  no 
doubt,  true,  that  in  that  awful  day,  our  spiritual  condition 
will  be  the  great  engrossing  theme  ;  that  a  flaming  world 
will  have  little  interest  for  one  who  is  about  to  pass  into  a 
lake  which  ever  burneth;  that  the  stupendous  magnifi- 
cence of  the  surrounding  scene  will  have  slight  attractions 
for  one  whose  ear  has  just  drank,  in  the  sentence  of  divine 
approval,  and  whose  eye  is  fast  filling  with  the  visions  of 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  277 

eternal  life.  But,  till  then,  we  have  the  sanction  of  our 
Lord's  example,  for  introducing,  and  enlarging  on,  the 
physical  machinery  of  that  day.  He  who  knew  all  the 
avenues  to  the  human  heart,  knew  that  the  way  to  engage 
our  attention  to  the  day  of  doom  itself,  is  to  invest  it  with 
sublime  scenical  imagery,  to  accumulate  around  it  all 
those  circumstances  of  awful  pomp  which  are  known  to 
have  terrible  attraction  for  the  human  heart.  '  The  Son 
of  man  shall  come  in  the  clouds  of  heaven,  in  his  own 
glory,  and  in  the  glory  of  his  Father,  and  of  all  his  holy 
angels,  with  a  great  sound  of  trumpets.' 

And  who  can  question  that  the  truth  of  the  scene  re- 
quires this  dramatic  description  ?  ,  Had  Sinai  its  appara- 
tus of  quailing  terrors  ;  its  sublime  blackness  of  darkness ; 
its  thunders,  and  tempests,  and  earthquakes  ;  its  sound  of 
a  trumpet  waxing  louder  and  louder  ;  and  its  hosts  of  min- 
istering angels:  did  all  this  appalling  machinery  attend 
the  publication  of  the  law,  a  mere  national  event,  a  com- 
paratively private  scene?  and  shall  that  day,  when  the 
law  is  to  assert  its  high  majesty,  and  man  to  have  his  final 
audit;  that  day  of  universal  summoning,  and  eternal  dis- 
pensations ;  be  wanting  in  circumstantial  effect  ?  Had 
even  Bethlehem  its  signs  and  wonders,  its  guiding  star, 
and  exulting  cherubim ;  when  He  came  as  in  labored  ob- 
scurity, could  creation  even  then  be  hardly  restrained  from 
collecting  her  glories  to  grace  the  scene?  and  shall  she  be 
remiss  in  her  attendance  when  he  will  come  on  purpose  to 
be  glorified,  when  leave  will  be  given  her  to  pour  all  her 
splendors  in  his  train  ?  has  Calvary  also  its  tale  of  prodi- 
gious things;  did  nature  come  and  weep  at  his  cross,  and 
sympathize  with  his  sorrows'?  and  shall  she  not  come  to 
wait  on  his  throne  and  give  effect  to  his  triumph?  Yes, 
we  believe  that  the  promise  which  he  made,  especially  to 
his  disciples,  is  destined  to  have  universal. application  ;  that 
every  element  and  every  nature  which  sympathized  in  his 


278  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

tribulation,  will  then  be  promoted  to  swell  his  train,  or  en- 
throned to  share  his  glory.  Whether,  indeed,  every  pre- 
dicted prodigy,  every  image  of  terrible  sublimity  which 
the  scriptures  assign  to  that  awful  day,  will  be  literally  re- 
alized or  not,  it  is  immaterial  to  determine.  The  fact  that 
our  Lord's  descriptions  of  it  fill  the  imagination,  that  in 
order  to  aggrandize  its  interest  he  has  selected  and  combin- 
ed every  element  of  greatness,  beauty,  and  terror,  warrants 
us  to  infer  that  the  machinery  will  be  every  way  worthy 
the  unparalleled  occasion  ;  that  if  one  of  those  predicted 
circumstances  is  wanting,  it  will  only  be  to  make  way 
for  another  of  surpassing  power.  '  He  shall  come  in  his 
own  glory,'  clad  in  the  robe  of  essential  light  he  had  worn 
from  eternity  ;'  'and  in  the  glory  of  his  Father,  absorbing 
in  his  own  person  all  power  and  office,  invested  by  the  pa- 
ternal hand  with  all  the  insignia  of  supreme  majesty,  and 
girt  with  the  sword  of  ultimate  justice  never  till  now  un- 
sheathed ;  and  crowned  with  the  most  convincing  signsr 
and  glorious  demonstrations  of  paternal  love ;  '  and  in  the 
glory  of  his  holy  angels,'  all  the  bright  inhabitants  of  heav- 
en, forsaking  their  sublime  occupations,  and  descending 
from  their  lofty  seats,  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand,  and 
thousands  of  thousands  ,shall  encircle  his  throne,  and  at- 
tend his  coming.  In  the  presence  of  that  splendor,  the  sun. 
itself  shall  wane,  and  all  light  be  swallowed  up.  The  vast 
procession,  sailing  on  the  bosom  of  the  troubled  air,  filling 
the  concave  of  the  sky,  and  flanked  with  prepared  thunder- 
clouds of  wrath,  shall  open  its  front  on  the  astonished  world. 
No  interpreter  will  be  necessary ;  it  will  flash  its  meaning 
on  every  mind  ;  find  a  key  in  every  breast ;  explaining  a 
thousand  presentiments,  and  realizing  ten  thousand  appre- 
hensions. The  sound  of  the  trumpet  is  heard  ;  it  is  the 
voice  of  the  Judge  calling  for  the  sleeping  dead  ;  calling 
with  a  voice  which  is  instantly  heard,  understood  and 
obeyed  ;  they  that  are  in  their  graves  come  forth.  Again 


HIS    ORIGINALITY.  279 

it  sounds  ;  and  unnumbered  angels,  true  to  the  signal,  dis- 
perse over  the  four  winds  of  heaven,  and  collect  the  whole 
human  family  into  the  area  of  the  great  tribunal.  Then 
shall  ensue  the  conflagration  of  the  globe;  forsaken  of  its 
inhabitants,  all  its  stores  of  fire  shall  be  unmasked,  every 
mountain  shall  be  a  Sinai,  and  the  flame  universal:  yet 
who  shall  heed  the  sight  ?  for  the  great  assize  will  have 
begun.  *  Oh,  may  the  Lord  grant  that  we  may  find  mercy 
of  the  Lord  in  that  day.7 

4.  The  rectitude  which  will  distinguish  the  proceedings 
of  the  last  day,  is  a  sentiment  familiar  to  the  Old  Testament. 
On  this  account,  I  should  content  myself  with  barely  re- 
peating it,  had  not  our  Lord  directed  our  attention  to  cer- 
tain particulars,  by  which  that  rectitude  will  make  itself 
impressively  seen.  'Before  him  shall  be  gathered  all  na- 
tions;' in  other  words  the  judgment  will  be  universal. 
If  it  were  not — if  only  one  of  all  the  generations  of  man- 
kind were  absent,  the  whole  universe  would  have  a  right 
to  complain  of  injustice.  But  the  judgment  will  be  right- 
eous, so  that  all  will  be  present :  and  therefore  you  will  be 
present.  However  loath  to  leave  the  darkness  of  the 
grave,  you  must  come  forth.  However  eager  to  remain  in 
the  domains  of  death,  death  must  deliver  you  up.  Howev- 
er loud  your  entreaties  to  the  rocks  to  fall  on  you,  and  to  the 
hills  to  cover  you,  they  will  refuse  to  afford  you  a  refuge. 
Though  now  you  may  often  compel  nature  to  serve  you 
in  your  sins,  and  to  conceal  your  character  ;  then  it  will  be 
avenged;  darkness  itself  will  reject  you;  the  night  will 
become  light  about  you,  every  department  and  element  of 
creation,  true  to  its  original  design,  will  render  service 
to  its  Lord  in  conspiring  to  facilitate  the  ends  of  justice. 
And  so  essential  to  those  ends  will  be  the  presence  of  every 
human  being,  that  if  you  alone  were  absent,  the  solemn 
proceedings  would  wait,  the  judgment  would  stop  for  your 
appearance, 


280  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

But  impartiality  requires  not  only  that  every  individual 
should  be  present ;  it  also  demands  that  congnizance  be  ta- 
ken of  every  act.  Let  a  single  deed,  let  a  single  thought, 
the  most  inconsequent  and  unproductive  that  ever  passed 
through  the  mind,  be  omitted  j  and  if  that  thought  possess- 
ed a  moral  quality,  the  universe  would  be  justified  in  pro- 
testing against  the  omission.  But  nothing  shall  be  over- 
looked, nothing  made  light  of;  the  slightest  voluntary  ex- 
ercise of  the  soul,  the  very  dust  of  the  balances  shall  be 
taken  into  the  account.  The  two  mites,  the  cup  of  cold 
water,  the  prison  visit,  the  pious  wish,  on  the  one  hand: 
the  omitted  kindness,  the  idle  word,  the  unchaste  look,  the 
thought  of  evil,  the  deed  of  darkness,  on  the  other;  shall 
all  be  brought  into  the  open  court.  It  is  in  the  moral  world 
as  it  is  in  the  natural,  where  every  substance  weighs  some- 
thing ;  though  we  speak  of  imponderable  bodies,  yet  na- 
ture knows  nothing  of  positive  levity.  And  were  we  pos- 
sessed of  the  necessary  scales,  the  exquisite  instrument, 
we  should  find  that  the  same  holds  truein  the  moral  world. 
Nothing  is  insignificant  on  which  sin  has  breathed  the 
breath  of  hell:  everything  is  important  on  which  holiness 
has  impressed  itself  in  the  faintest  characters.  And,  ac- 
cordingly, '  there  is  nothing  covered  that  shall  not  be  re- 
vealed; and  hid  that  shall  not  be  known.'  However  un- 
important now  in  the  estimation  of  man,  yet,  when  placed 
in  the  light  of  the  divine  countenance,  like  the  atom  in  the 
sun's  rays,  it  shall  be  found  deserving  attention  ;  and  as 
the  minutest  molecule  of  matter  contains  all  the  primordial 
elements  of  a  world,  so  the  least  action  of  the  mind  shall 
be  found  to  include  in  it  the  essential  element  of  heaven, 
or  of  hell. 

And  in  order  to  make  good  its  character  for  righteous- 
ness, it  must  also  be  a  judgment  of  proportion  and  compar- 
ison; in  which  the  guilt  of  each  is  ascertained  according 
to  all  its  peculiar  modifications.  In  the  courts  of  human 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  281 

judicature,  one  law,  and  one  measure  of  punishment,  is 
often  applied  to  a  multitude  of  offences  varying  in  their 
shades  of  guilt.  But,  in  that  day,  a  law  will  be  found  for 
every  different  sin ;  and  a  measure  of  punishment  accu- 
rately adjusted  to  every  measure  of  guilt.  It  will  be  more 
tolerable  for  some  than  it  will  be  for  others.  He  who  knew 
his  Lord's  will,  and  did  it  not,  shall  be  beaten  with  many 
stripes;  and  he  who  knew  not,  and  yet  committed  things 
worthy  of  stripes  shall  be  beaten  with  few  stripes.  The 
number  of  talents  which  each  had  received,  will  determine 
the  returns  which  each  should  have  made.  It  will  not  be 
a  question  merely  of  guilt  or  innocence,  but  a  question  of 
how  guilty.  The  sinner  will  not  merely  be  convicted  of 
impenitence,  but  of  all  the  aggravations  of  his  impenitence. 
He  will  find  himself  brought  into  comparison  with  those, 
who,  though  their  religious  advantages  were  less  than  his, 
succeeded  in  laying  hold  on  eternal  life.  He  will  find 
himself  confronted  by  the  men  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah, 
of  Tyre  and  Sidon,  and  Nineveh  :  the  whole  heathen 
world  shall  rise  up  in  judgment  to  condemn  him.  They 
who  have  been  punished  will  demand — they  who  would 
have  been  punished,  had  they  misused  their  means  and  mer- 
cies as  he  has  done,  will  demand — the  universe  will  de- 
mand, on  every  principle  of  impartiality  and  justice,  that 
the  impenitent  hearer  of  the  gospel  shall  not  escape,  that 
judgment  go  forth  against  him,  that  he  be  punished  accord- 
ing to  the  enormity  of  his  guilt. 

Were  any  allowed  to  absent  themselves  from  that  tribu- 
nal, the  hearers  of.  the  gospel  certainly  would  not;  they 
form  the  most  important  class  who  will  be  there  arraigned. 
Could  any  class  of  sins  be  passed  by,  impenitence  under 
the  gospel  could  not;  it  takes  rank  with  the  highest  order 
of  guilt;  it  will  throw  every  other  description  of  sin  into 
the  shade.  Were  a  day  of  Judgment  appointed  for  no 
other  class,  the  hearers  of  the  gospel  are  a  class  so  i 


282  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

tant,  that  the  judgment  would  be  set,  and  the  books  be 
opened,  if  only  for  them.  They  occupy  no  middle  ground. 
They  are  either  the  subjects  of  faith  and  repentance,  and 
as  such  entitled,  through  grace,  to  the  highest  glories  of 
the  heavenly  state;  or  else  they  are  the  guiltiest,  the  most 
inexcusable  of  their  race,  and  as  such  deserving  the  ex- 
tremest  woe.  We  are  to  suppose  that  the  most  ordinary 
proceedings  of  that  day  will  be  invested  with  a  more  awful 
solemnity  than  the  universe  ever  before  beheld:  but  when 
the  impenitent  hearer  of  the  gospel  shall  be  arraigned,  that 
solemnity  shall  deepen,  if  possible  a  thousand-fold  ;  while 
the  crimson  aggravations  of  his  guilt  shall  be  laid  open,  the 
attention  of  the  congregated  world  shall  become  more 
breathless  and  intense;  arid  when  his  doom  shall  be  pro- 
nounced, the  voice  of  the  righteous  Judge  shall  take  if  pos- 
sible a  deeper  tone,  and  speak  with  a  more  awful  empha- 
sis, as  he  utters  the  sentence,  '  Depart  from  me ;  I  never 
knew  you.' 

And  to  render  the  rectitude  of  the  judgment  perfect,  the 
whole  must  be  conducted  according  to  the  known  laws  of 
the  divine  government.  In  other  words,  thelawsto  which 
man  is  now  required  to  conform,  are  the  identical  rules  to 
which  his  conduct  will  then  be  brought.  Were  another 
standard  to  be  then  set  up,  a  new  law  introduced,  man 
might  justly  object  to  its  irrelevance,  put  in  a  plea  of  igno- 
rance, and  protest  against  its  application.  But  the  rule  of 
judgment  will  be  two-fold  :  the  law  of  eternal  morality  to 
which  our  nature  was  originally  adapted,  and  in  obedience 
to  which  we  should  have  found  perfection  ;  and  the  law  of 
grace  brought  in  to  suit  our  lapsed  condition,  and  in  com- 
pliance with  which  we  may  obtain  salvation.  These,  as 
they  are  the  only  rules  known  to  us  now,  will  be  the  only 
laws  adduced  then  ;  the  consequence  of  which  will  be,  that 
our  works,  our  present  conformity  or  non-contormity  with 
these  known  principles  will  constitute  the  great  subject  of 


HIS       ORIGINALITY,  283 

inquest.  'By  thy  words  shalt  thou  be  justified,'  said 
Christ, '  and  by  thy  words  shalt  thou  be  condemned/  While 
he  declares  that  the  formula  of  the  final  sentence  shall  run 
thus,  '  Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it:  and  inasmuch  as  ye  did  it 
not.1 

In  his  hands,  these  laws  will  become  of  universal  appli- 
cation. He  will  make  it  apparent  that  our  conduct  has 
never  stopped  with  ourselves  ;  that  it  has  never  stopped  at 
human  laws,  but  has  been  all  related  to  his  divine  laws: 
that  every  thing  we  have  done  has  obeyed  a  law,  or  vio- 
lated a  law  divinely  enacted;'  and  either  written  on  our 
hearts,  or  published  in  his  word.  And  not  only  will  these 
laws,  in  his  hands,  receive  universal  application  as  to  per- 
sons, but  also  as  to  the  character  of  each  individual ;  taking" 
cognizance  of  all  its  thoughts  and  rudiments.  If  we  had 
eyes  adapted  to  the  sight,  we  should  see,  on  looking  into 
the  smallest  seed,  ths  future  flower,  or  shrub,  or  tree,  en- 
closed in  it.  He  will  look  into  our  feelings  and  motives 
as  into  seeds  ;  by  those  embryoes  of  action  he  will  infalli- 
bly determine  what  we  are,  and  will  show  what  we  should 
have  been,  had  there  been  scope  and  stage  for  their  devel- 
opement  and  maturity.  His  law  has  a  magnifying  power ; 
and  when  he  shall  apply  it  in  that  day  to  human  charac- 
ter, the  faintest  and  minutest  parts  of  that  character  will 
show  a  definite  outline,  and  a  determinate  quality. 

And  how  easy  will  it  be  for  him  to  give  the  Jaw  this 
magnifying  power;  or,  rather,  to  show  that  it  has  always 
possessed  it.  How  often  did  he  do  this  in  the  days  of  his 
flesh,  for  the  Old  Testament  code.  By  a  single  sentence, 
a  passing  remark,  he  sometimes  laid  open  the  spiritual 
interior  of  a  precept;  and  showed  that  in  the  morality  of 
the  ancient  book  there  lay,  as  in  its  germ,  the  whole 
legislation  of  his  new  economy.  The  last  day  will  be  the 
triumph  of  law  :  by  a  single  touch  the  scales  shall  fall 
from  our  eyes;  and  what  now  seems  low  in  the  standard 


284  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

of  holiness  shall  be  seen  towering  away  to  an  infinite 
height,  and  what  now  seems  contracted  shall  be  seen  taking 
an  immeasurable  compass.  God  himself  will  be  seen 
paying  reverence  to  the  law;  and  man  shall  feel  himself 
pervaded  and  encompassed  by  it.  Nothing  shall  seem  to 
exist  but  character  and  law  :  man,  denuded  of  all  but  char- 
acter, shall  find  nothing  left  him  b.ut  his  virtue  or  his  vice  ; 
and  the  law,  in  the  person  of  the  Judge,  applying  itself  to 
that  character,  and  making  its  estimate.  The  reign  of  ap- 
pearances and  professions  will  then  be  over,  and  works 
alone  will  be  in  request.  .  Now  men  act  as  though  the  law 
called  only  for  words,  professions,  semblances  of  right ;  but 
then  it  will  be  "heard,  calling  imperatively  for  works,  char- 
acter, works*  and  men  will  find  that  they  have  nothing 
else  left  them  to  produce. 

5.  The  necessary  result  of  bringing  the  human  charac- 
ter tothis  test  will  be,  the  division  of  the  whole  family  of 
man  into  two  classes — the  good,  and  the  bad.  'When  the 
Son  of  man  shall  come  in  his  glory,  and  all  the  holy  an- 
gels with  him,  then  shall  He  sit  upon  the  throne  of  his 
glory,  and  before  him  shall  be  gathered  all  nations :  and 
He  shall  separate  them  one  from  another,  as  a  shepherd 
divideth  his  sheep  from  the  goats:  and  he  shall  set  the 
sheep  on  his  right  hand,  but  the  goats  on  the  left.'  Now 
men  are  distributed  into  a  thousand -classes,  divided  and 
subdivided  by  so  large  a  multiplication  of  social  and  artifi- 
cial distinctions,  that  this  greatest  of  all  distinctions,  arising 
from  character.,  is  almost  confounded  and  lost  in  the  crowd. 
But,  'they  that  have  done  good,  and  they  that  have  done 
evil,'  will  be  the  sole  remaining  distinction  then  :  the  mul- 
tifarious compound  of  human  society  will  be  resolved  into 
these  two  simple  elements. 

The  student  of  nature  adverts  with  proud  delight  to  that 
period  in  the  history  of  science,  when,  as  facts  multiplied, 
leading  phenomena  became  prominent,  laws  begun  to 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  285 

emerge,  and  generalizations  to  commence;  when  the  dis- 
coveries of  a  single  mind  harmonized  unnumbered  facts, 
and  placed  the  system  of  the  universe  on  a  basis  never 
after  to  be  shaken.  The  judgment  will  be  a  great  process 
of  moral  generalization.  Wherever,  indeed,  the  gospel 
comes  with  power,  even  now  the  process  begins.  It  no 
sooner  obtains  a  footing  amongst  a  people,  than,  pouring 
contempt  on  all  their  existing  distinctions,  it  proposes  a 
new  classification.  It  developes  the  conscience,  raises  the 
moral  part  of  our  nature  into  importance,  bestows  all  its 
attention,  and  confers  all  its  titles  upon  that.  It  essays  to 
separate  the  precious  from  the  vile,  and  to  collect  them 
into  a  church ;  to  draw  a  line  of  demarkation ;  on  the  one 
side  of  which  shall  stand  all  the  good,  and  on  the  other 
side  all  the  bad ;  and  this  classification  it  intends  to  be  all- 
comprehensive  and  ultimate.  At  present,  however,  nu- 
merous impediments  operate  to  prevent  the  perfect  realiza- 
tion of  the  theory.  Approximation  is  all  that  can  be  at- 
tained. Tares  spring  up  among  the  wheat;  and,  notwith- 
standing every  precaution,  the  foolish  virgins  mingle  with 
the  wise.  But  the  last  day  shall  behold  this  simplification 
complete.  By  the  operation  of  a  single  principle  he  will 
reduce  the  chaos  to  order,  '  dividing  the  light  from  the 
darkness.3  By  the  application  of  a  single  rule  he  will 
gather  '  like  things  to  like  ; '  and  two  classes  shall  com- 
prise all  the  infinite  varieties.  Under  one  or  the  other  of 
these,  each  individual  shall  find  a  place — a  place  so  appro- 
priate, that  he  could  not  exchange  it  even  with  one  of  the 
same  class,  without  doing  violence  to  all  fitness  and  order : 
and  those  characteristics  on  account  of  which  the  place 
lias  been  assigned  him,  will  be  acknowledged  by  all  to  be 
specific  /  his  most  distinguishing  marks.  The  universe 
will  confess  and  admire  the  justice,  harmony,  and  perfec- 
tion of  the  distribution. 

Some,  in  their  impatience,  would  have  the  Great  Head 


286  THE      GREAT       TEACHER. 

of  the  Church  to  effect  this  separation  at  once  ;  they  would 
gather  out  the  tares  before  the  time  of  harvest.  As  if  they 
despaired  of  a  judgment  day,  they  would  fain  bring  all  the 
plans  of  Providence  within  the  bounds  of  time;  as  if  it 
gave  them  but  little  satisfaction  to  know  that  a  full  exposi- 
tion and  justification  of  the  ways  of  God  is  to  be  made  in 
eternity,  they  would  forestall  the  future,  and  submit  his 
plans  to  instant  explanation.  But,  'Nay;'  saith  he,  '  ye 
know  not  what  manner  of  spirit  ye  are  of.'  *  As  the  tares 
are  left  till  the  time  of  harvest,  and  are  then  gathered  and 
burned  in  the  fire,  so  shall  it  be  at  the  end  of  the  world. 
The  Son  of  man  shall  send  forth  his  angels,  and  they  shall 
gather  out  of  his  kingdom  all  things  that  offend,  and  them 
that  do  iniquity.'  Thus  he  signifies  that  his  plans  are 
already  formed  ;  formed  with  an  accuracy  which  admits  of 
no  alteration,  and  on  a  scale  of  greatness  which  excludes 
all  haste.  He  can  afford  to  wait-  Had  he  any  occasion 
to  doubt  the  issue,  he  might,  at  times,  be  tempted  to  precip- 
itate the  end.  But  he  sees  the  end  from  the  beginning; 
sees  it  so  clearly,  and  awaits  it  so  confidently,  that  his  pa- 
tience only  proclaims  the  efficiency  of  his  government.  If 
impatience  of  his  apparent  delay  could  have  induced  him 
to  hasten  the  final  event,  if  suspicions  of  his  power,  if  mis- 
constructions of  his  patience,  could  have  provoked  him  to 
rashness,  long  before  this  he  would  have  'sworn,  there 
shall  be  time  no  longer.'  But  his  forbearance  serves  to 
illustrate  his  majesty  ;  and  is  meant  to  remind  us,  that  if 
he  does  not  submit  his  plans  to  our  present  impatience,  and 
compress  them  into  the  limits  of  time,  it  is  because  he  re- 
serves them  for  a  nobler  theatre,  and  deems  them  worthy 
the  expanse  of  eternity. 

There  are  others  who  construe  his  apparent  delay  in  fa- 
vor of  the  impunity  of  prosperous  vice.  *  The  evil  servant 
saith  in  his  heart,  My  Lord  delayeth  his  coming.  And 
-with  that  he  begins  to  smite  his  fellow-servants,  and  to  eat 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  287 

and  drink  with  the  drunken.7  *  As  in  the  days  of  Noah* 
they  laugh  at  the  threatened  judgment,  and  eat  and  drink, 
marry,  and  are  given  in  marriage.'  Because  the  event 
has  been  long  foretold,  but  through  a  series  of  ages  has 
not  taken  place,  they  conclude  it  need  be  dreaded  no  more, 
.and  take  heart  to  live  on  in  sin.  They  forget  that  his  for- 
bearance to  the  wicked  makes  part  of  a  vast  and  gracious 
plan,  by  which  he  is  seeking  their  salvation.  They  forget 
that  one  day  is  with  the  Lord  as  a  thousand  years,  and  a 
thousand  years  as  one  day;  and  that  when  the  whole  cir- 
cle of  time  shall  have  revolved,  they  themselves  will  think 
it  short.  They  are  now  in  the  condition  of  one  who  has 
swallowed  some  poisonous  and  fatal  draught ;  the  taste 
may  be  pleasant,  the  operation  may  be  slow,  and  he  may  be- 
gin to  flatter  himself  that  it  will  never  take  effect ;.  but  only 
wait  the  necessary  time,  and  it  will  appear  that  he  has 
swallowed  death.  The  poison  of  sin  is  now  sleeping  in 
the  veins  of  humanity;  few  of  its  deadly  symptoms  may 
at  present  appear  ;  but  in  the  last  day  they  will  all  be  de- 
veloped ;  the  destructive  element  will  then  appear  in  its 
real  character,  will  furnish  its  awful  operation  in  the  sec- 
ond death  of  all  who  have  neglected  the  divine  antidote. 

'  The  angels  shall  come  forth  and  sever  the  wicked  from 
among  the  just.'  By  this  intimation  our  Lord  intended 
not  merely  to  rebuke  the  impatience  of  those  who  would 
hasten  his  judgments,  but  to  denote  the  perfect  accuracy 
with  which  the  separation  will  be  made.  The  work  will 
be  committed  to  the  highest  order  of  created  instrumental- 
ity; the  process  of  discrimination  will  be  conducted  under 
the  immediate  eye  of  Omniscience.  Man,  we  have  seen, 
in  his  ignorance  and  impatience,  frequently  deems  it  neces- 
sary now  ;  God  himself,  the  long-suffering  God  himself 
will  deem  it  necessary  then.  The  happiness  of  his  sub- 
jects will  require  that  he  should  gather  out  of  his  kingdom, 
all  things  that  offend,  and  whatsoever  worketh  abomina- 


288  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

tion,  that  all  whose  characters  are  not  congenial  with  the 
laws,  the  enjoyments,  the  society  of  that  blessed  state, 
should  be  removed  beyond  the  borders  of  his  dominions. 
The  stability  of  his  kingdom  will  require  it.  Unlike  eve- 
ry other  kingdom,  he  declares  that  his  kingdom  shall  nev- 
er be  moved.  He  designs  it  for  eternity  ;  but  were  he  to 
admit  into  its  composition  any  impure  elements,  any  perish- 
able materials,  it  would  mar  his  purpose,  it  would  do 
him  no  honor,  his  work  would  require  revision  and  im- 
provement, it  would  not  be  perfect.  Like  a  wise  builder 
therefore,  he  will  permit  nothing  to  enter  as  an  elementary 
part  of  that  fabric,  but  gold,  and  silver,  and  precious  stones^ 
the  wood,  hay,  and  stubble  shall  be  burnt  up.  He  will  se- 
cure to  it  eternal  stability,  by  allowing  nothing  to  become  a 
part  of  it,  which  has  not  passed  under  the  scrutiny  of  his 
omniscience,  and  received  the  seal  of  his  approbation. 

6.  Immediately  consequent  on  this  separation  will  be 
the  final  award.  *  Then  'shall  the  king  say  unto  them  on 
his  right  hand,  Come  ye  blessed  of  my  Father,  inherit  the 
kingdom  prepared  for  you  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world.'  How  gracious  the  language  !  Every  word  is 
fraught  with  infinite  benignity.  Thtn  shall  he  say  it — 
then,  when  the  universe  is  assembled,  when  he  is  distribu- 
ting endless  life  and  endless  death,  when  every  word  he 
utters  is  pregnant  with  fate,  when  all  creation  is  hushed 
into  the  deepest  silence,  when  the  spheres,  the  very  stars 
in  their  courses,  are  standing  still  to  listen — then,  when 
no  creature  is  breathing,  but  all  are  intensely  bending  to 
hear,  then  shall  he  address  to  them  on  his  right  hand  the 
infinite  welcome.  He  will  say  to  them,  Come  ;  a  word 
which  will  place  him  in  the  centre  of  a  redeemed  universe, 
which  will  collect  around  him  all  the  loyal  and  the  sanc- 
tified in  the  creation,  which  will  bring  all  the  blessed  into 
immediate  communication,  and  place  them  in  eternal  con- 
junction with  himself.  He  will  say  to  them,  Come  ?  and, 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  289 

opening  his  arms  of  infinite  love,  their  nature  shall  find 
perfection,  and  their  love  repose.  He  will  say  to  them, 
Come  ;  and  every  mansion  in  heaven  shall  echo  the  invi- 
tation as  if  impatient  to  receive  its  destined  guest. 

'Come,  ye,  blessed  of  my  Father:"*  how  comprehensive 
the  title  !  reaching  through  eternity  ;  causing  every  thing 
in  the  universe  to  cast  a  benignant  aspect  upon  them  ;  ap- 
pointing them  heirs  of  blessedness.  How  efficacious  the 
blessing!  not  the  mere  breath  of  applause,  not  a  faint  im- 
potent wish  of  happiness  which  evaporates  and  is  lost  in 
the  air  :  but  a  substantial,  operative  Llessing,  which  carries 
its  own  fulfillment  with  it:  clothing  them  with  happiness 
like  a  garment,  surrounding  them  with  it  like  an  element, 
blending  it  with  their  nature,  glorifying,  or  turning  them 
into  glory.  If  a  fellow  creature  blessed  them,  it  only  im- 
plied that  he  loved  them  ;  but  to  be  blessed  and  beloved  of 
God,  can  only  be  because  they  are  lovely.  How  irrever- 
sible the  blessing!  for,  if  he  blesses,  who  can  curse?  the 
hatred  and  imprecations  of  the  universe  could  not  deprive 
them  of  it.  '  Come,  ye  blessed  of  my  Father,  inherit  the 
kingdom  prepared  for  you.1  More  than  a  mansion,  a  city, 
a  province — a  kingdom,  is  yours  ;  honor  in  its  fountain  ; 
unbounded  resources;  freedom  and  dominion  not  to  be 
questioned ;  royalty  shared  with  the  King  of  kings.  A 
kingdom  prepared,  adapted  in  all  its  arrangements  to  your 
renewed  natures ;  a  state  in  which  your  lofty  aspirations 
and  desires  have  been  amply  and  expressly  provided  for. 
Whjle  on  earth,  you  evinced  the  royalty  of  your  descent; 
you  exercised  dominion  over  sin;  you  sought  to  give  laws 
to  the  world ;  to  establish  a  new  reign  upon  earth  ;  you 
cultivated  the  noblest  principles ;  pursued  high  and  regal 
objects  ;  now  realize  your  most  enlarged  desires,  ascend 
your  thrones,  and  assume  your  crowns.  The  kingdom 
was  prepared  for  you  from  the  foundation  of  the  world. 
18 


290  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

Your  happiness  engaged  the  eternal  mind  before  the  world 
.began:  he  purposed  it,  planned  it,  secured  it,  ages  before 
your  existence.  If  wisdom  rejoiced,  from  eternity,  in  the 
habitable  parts  of  the  earth;  if  she  shared  her  delights 
prospectively  with  the  sons  of  men,  while  they  would  be 
passing  their  probationary  state,  how  much  more  would 
she  love  to  ponder  the  vision  of  their  final  glorification  in 
heaven  ;  if  the  bare  anticipation  of  providing  for  their  re- 
ception on  earth,  of  mingling  with  them,  taking  to  them 
blessings  from  heaven,  and  seeing  them  provisionally  hap- 
py in  the  low  vale  of  mortality  :  if  the  prospect  of  this  fill- 
ed her  with  joy,  how  much  more  would  the  completion  of 
all  her  plans,  and  the  consummation  of  their  happiness, 
in  the  crowns  and  thrones  of  the  heavenly  state,  engage 
her  care  and  enrapture  her  with  delight.  Come,  possess  a 
kingdom  which  existed  for  you  in  the  divine  idea,  before 
the  earth  itself  was  made. 

O  what  a  welcome  this!  Yet  vast  as  it  is,  he  seems  on- 
ly to  ease  his  infinite  heart  in  uttering  it.  What  fragrant 
breathings  of  grace,  filling  the  universe  with  vital  odors! 
What  ravishing  accents  to  those  addressed  1  they  will  feel 
that  till  then  they  never  heard  the  sound  of  music  1  Then 
first  will  they  begin  to  respire.  Then  will  their  glory  reach 
its  meridian,  to  know  no  decline.  Then  will  their  joy  at- 
tain its  full  tide  mark,  to  know  no  ebb.  Less  than  this 
would  not  satisfy  the  blessed  Lord  himself.  For  this  he 
o-uaranteed,  as  the  reward  of  his  meditation :  on  this  his 

o 

heart  has  ever  been  set.  Could  he  not  bring  forth,  on  the 
ocsasion  all  the  reserved  treasures  of  the  Godhead,  he 
would  account  himself  dishonored  and  defeated.  But  even 
he  shall  be  satisfied  :  even  He,  as  he  looks  on  his  people, 
shall  say,  both  for  himself  and  for  them,  '  It  is  enough.* 
Glory  shall  then  cast  off  its  last  veil ;  and  as  it  offers  itself 
to  their  full-eyed  view,  and  looks  forth  upon  them,  they 


HIS        ORIGINALITY.  29 1 

shall  open  to  it  their  inmost  souls,  they  shall  themselves  be- 
come glory. 

*  Then  shall  he  say  also  unto  them  on  the  left  hand,  De- 
part from  me,  ye  cursed,  into  everlasting  fire  prepared  for 
the  devil  and  his  angels.'  Of  heaven  it  is  said,  it  was 
prepaied  for  the  righteous  ;  prepared  for  them  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world  :  but  it  is  not  said  of  hell,  that  it 
was  prepared  for  the  ungodly  ;  that  was  prepared  origin- 
ally for  the  devil  and  his  angels.  Hell  did  not  form  a  pri- 
mary part  of  the  creation ;  there  was  a  time  when  there  was 
no  hell  in  the  universe;  such  a  place  did  not  enter  into 
God's  primitive  design;  it  was,  so  to  speak,  accidental, 
made  necessary  by  sin ;  it  was  an  after  creation,  forced  on 
the  Almighty  that  he  might  provide  a  receptacle  for  guilt. 
Now,  if  he  prepared  heaven  from  the  first,  it  shows  that 
he  created  man  to  be  happy :  and  if  he  did  not  from  the 
first  prepare  a  hell,  it  shows  that  he  did  not  create  any  for 
misery.  No,  hell  was  not  provided,  its  flames  were  not  kin- 
dled at  first  for  man,  but  for  Satan  and  his  angels.  Yet, 
•being  prepared,  the  dreadful  place  can  receive  any  other 
rebels  as  well  as  they:  and,  as  sinners  league  with  them 
now,  and  do  the  works  of  the  devil,  they  must  finally  share 
in  the  same  suffering,  in  the  same  place.  The  sinner  renders 
their  place  his  own ;  and  the  sentence  of  the  last  day  rati- 
fies the  awful  arrangement. 

And  who  can  tell  the  terrible  import  of  this  curse !  A 
curse  uttered  by  God:  by  the  lips  of  him  whose  supreme 
delight  it  is  to  bless  !  What  must  sin  be,  that  it  can  force 
a  curse  from  infinite  goodness  ;  that  it  can  move  the  divine 
temperament  to  displeasure  ;  that  it  can  make  it  an  appro- 
piate  act,  a  worthy,  becoming,  and  even  godlike  act» 
for  infinite  love  to  utter  a  malediction  on  the  work  of 
his  own  hands'!  And  such  a  malediction  !  Every  ac- 
cent is  lightning;  every  word  is  loaded  with  misery,  is 
full  of  perdition.  It  is  a  sentence,  every  clause  of  which 


THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

adds  a  hell  to  the  misery  already  denounced,  till  it  reaches 
the  climax  of  woe — a  sentence  in  which  one  vial  after  an- 
other of  Almighty    wrath  is    poured  out,  till  the  whole   is 
discharged:  the  wrath   of    God    distilled — a   sentence,  in 
which  are   gathered  up,  and   compassed  into  one,  all  the 
curses  of  God,  requiring-  an  eternity  to  comprehend  and  ex- 
haust them.     But  it  is  not  for  tongue  to  describe  it :  it  is  for 
the  heart  to  ponder,  for  the  imagination  to  conceive;  and 
muse  on    it  the  most    fertile  conception  may,  without  any 
danger  of  excess*    Then  first  will  the  ungodly  know   what 
is  meant  by   punishment.     Then  will  they  begin  to  esti- 
mate truly   the   dreadful   nature  of  their   situation.     And 
oh!   when  the   prospect  shall  first  open   upon  them,  when 
they  shall    find  that   God  himself  is    against  them,  when 
they  shall  hear  themselves  outlawed  by  divine  proclamation, 
when  they   shall   find  that  on   God  saying  depart,  every 
thing  else,  every  being,  every  place,  but  hell,  shall  repeat 
depart;  casting  them  forth,  disowning,  refusing  them  sym- 
pathy  and   refuge;  when  they  shall  feel  that  the  curse  is 
made  to  enter  and  possess  the  very  centre  of  their  being ; 
that  it  is  not  a  mere  stigma  branded  on  their  foreheads,  but 
a  substantial  curse,  written  upon  their  hearts  in  characters 
of  living    fire;  burnt    in,   scorching  and  consuming  their 
immortality;  that  they  have   the  wrath  of  God  for  a  soul; 
will  they  not  call  on  universal  nature  to  mourn  with  them, 
to  aid  them  in  expressing  their  mighty  grief,  to  assist  them 
in  bewailing  the  immensity  and  eternity  of  their  loss  ! 

'  And  these  shall  go  away  into  everlasting  punishment; 
but  the  righteous  into  life  eternal.'  Then  the  future  pun- 
ishment of  the  finally  impenitent  will  be  eternal.  *  They 
shall  not  see  life  ;'  '  their  worm  dieth  not,  and  their  fire  is 
not  quenched.'  If  they  continued  to  deteriorate  here  under 
a  remedial  economy  of  grace,  is  their  character  likely  to  be 
ameliorated  in  a  state  where  all  the  elements  of  universal 
evil  shall  be  collected  and  combined  together  ?  Whatever 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  293 

maybe  the  punishment  inflicted  upon  them  from  without,  it 
is  certain  its  sting- will  be  supplied  from  an  angry  conscience, 
and  its  hottest  fervors  from  the  inkindled  passions  within 
them;  and  as  these  belong  to  the  soul,  as  they  number 
among  its  essential  qualities,  they  will  be  immortal  like  the 
soul  itself.  And  not  only  has  our  Lord  employed  the  same 
term  to  denote  the  duration  of  misery,  which  he  has  applied 
to  the  duration  of  happiness,  thus  implying  that  they  will 
be  parallel  to  each  other;  not  only  has  he  employed  posi- 
tive terms,  which,  indeed,  may  be  understood  in  various  de- 
grees of  latitude;  he  has  also  used  negative  terms,  and  a 
negation  admits  of  no  degrees  ;  he  has  spoken  of  future 
punishment  as  a  state  of  endless  privation.  He  has  threat- 
ened it  as  the  worst  evil,  the  consummation  of  all  evil ;  but 

7 

if  it  were  temporary  and  remedial,  if  it  meant  only  a  quan- 
tum of  suffering  bearing  a  relation  to  eventual  happiness, 
it  should  rather  be  spoken  of,  like  the  present  afflictions  of 
the  righteous,  not  in  the  language  of  threatening,  but  of 
promise.  But  '  the  wicked  shall  go  away  into  everlasting 
punishment:'  and  though  it  may  now  be  impossible,  with 
our  present  human  feelings  and  limited  faculties,  to  compre- 
hend the  idea  ;  for  aught  we  know,  the  existence  of  eternal 
misery  may  hereafter  be  shown  not  only  to  consist  with 
but  to  be  even  the  necessary  effect  of  a  perfect  goverment, 
and  of  supreme  goodness. 

But,  while  ultimate  justice  shall  be  conducting  the  wick- 
ed away  into  evevlasting  darkness,  what  shall  become  of  the 
righteous  ?  They  will  be  severed  from  the  heirs  of  wrath, 
as  for  as  heaven  and  hell  asunder.  Our  Lord  teaches  us 
that  they  shall  see  God  ;'  whether  the  bodily  eye  shall  share 
in  the  vision  or  not,  may  probably  depend  on  the  degree 
in  which  their  material  part  shall  be  refined  and  made 
spiritual,  but  they  shall  see  him  with  that  which  is  the 
tine  organ  of  sight  in  divine  things,  the  renewed  heart; 
they  shall  behold  every  feature  of  his  image  reflected  in 


294  THE      GREAT       TEACHER. 

the  mirror  of  their  purified  nature.  They  shall  be  '  equal 
unto  the  angels;'  they  shall  be  able  to  approach  as  close- 
ly to  the  throne  of  God,  and  to  gaze  as  steadfastly  on  the 
unveiled  splendors  of  that  throne :  they  will  be  able  to  fill 
every  office  that  angels  fill,  to  soar  to  equal  heights,  and 
to  maintain  as  untiring  a  flight  in  the  service  of  God  ;  they 
will  in  every  way  be  worthy  of  the  angelic  brotherhood, 
and  able  to  run  with  them  in  the  race  of  divine  perfection. 
They  shall  then  '  be  with  him  where  he  is,  to  behold  his 
glory;'  to  be  conducted  by  him  into  the  inmost  recesses 
of  his  glory ;  to  see  him  throw  open  and  bring  out  all  the 
glory  that  is  peculiarly  his  ;  to  be  the  objects  on  which  that 
glory  shall  fall  and  accumulate  :  to  have  their  nature  wed- 
ded to  happiness  and  him  for  ever.  Then  shall  his  ardent 
desire  be  gratified,  'that  they  all  may  be  one  in  him  :'  by 
being  one  in  all,  he  will  make  all  one ;  by  being  all  in 
every  part,  he  will  become  the  unity  of  the  whole ;  so  that 
they  shall  ever  be  viewed,  and  spoken  of,  and  treated  as 
one  with,  and  a  part  of  himself.  '  Then  shall  the  righte- 
our  shine  forth  as  the  sun  in  the  kingdom  of  their  Father  ;r 
in  a  world  where  all  is  splendor,  they  shall  yet  distinctly 
shine,  shine  as  suns  for  ever  and  ever. 

We  shall  conclude  this  section  of  our  subject  with  two 
remarks.  First,  although  the  revelation  of  our  immortal- 
ity is  not  the  specific  object  of  the  gospel,  yet  by  combining 
it  with  the  knowledge  of  salvation,  our  Lord  has  made  it' 
what  no  mere  human  philosophy  could  have  dorfe,  a  guid- 
ing principle  of  life.  He  has  made  it  the  Pharos  of  the 
universe ;  it  is  true  indeed,  that,  prior  to  his  coming,  this 
colossal  truth  existed ;  but  it  lay  prostrate  on  the  earth,  an 
undefined  rough-hewn  mass,  creating  shadow  instead  of 
light ;  while  the  majority  of  those  who  viewed  it  could 
only  speculate  about  the  uses  to  which  it  might  be  apylied. 
But  our  Lord,  having  given  it  an  angel-form,  up-reared  its 


HIS       ORIGINALITY.  295 

gigantic  stature  to  the  skies,  Ifindled  its  beacon  fire,  and 
placed  it  in  a  line  with  the  haven  of  eternity  .;  that  by 
flinging  its  warning  light  across  the  dark  and  perilous 
ocean  of  life,  it  might  enable  the  endangered  voyagers  to 
reach  the  port  of  futurity  in  peace.  And  how  many,  in 
every  age,  by  steering  in  the  track  of  its  radiance,  have 
outlived  the  billows  and  perils  of  the  deep,  and  at  length 
'  escaped  safe  to  land.' 

Our  second  remark  is,  that  in  his  representations  of  the 
last  day,  our  Lord  appears  to  set  no  bounds  to  his  estimate 
of  his  own  importance  to  man.  When  we  hear  him  an- 
nounce, 'I  am  the  light  of  the  world,'  even  then  we  cannot 
forbear  exclaiming,  'What  must  be  the  dignity  of  him 
who  can  thus  stand  up  and  say,  in  the  face  of  the  sun,  *  I 
compare  claims  with  that  great  source  and  element  of 
light;'  what  must  be  his  own  conception  of  his  greatness 
and  value,  when  he  can  thus  seek  to  eclipse  the  noon-day 
sun,  and  challenge  for  himself  the  attention  of  the  world!7 
But  in  his  representations  of  the  last  day,  he  makes  him- 
self the  light  of  both  worlds,  the  centre  of  the  universe. 
Now  what  must  be  his  own  idea  of  his  ability  and  worth, 
that,  having  unveiled  so  tremenduous  a  scene,  he  should 
make  himself  the  central  object?  What  must  be  his  own 
estimate  of  the  saving  power  of  his  gospel,  that  he  should 
select  the  awful  ampitheatre  of  the  judgment  in  which  to 
try  its  efficacy;  that  he  should  deem  it  an  antidote  for  in- 
finite terror,  the  terrors  of  the  last  day  ?  Had  he  suppos- 
ed its  efficacy  was  limited,  he  would  have  made  its  limit 
the  measure  of  his  disclosures  of  the  judgment  day.  He 
would  have  been  silent  concerning  many  of  its  most  alarm- 
ing features,  he  would  have  lifted  the  veil  with  a  guarded 
hand,  lest  by  raising  it  to  its  utmost  height  he  should 
awaken  fears  beyond  his  power  to  allay.  But,  in  the  full 
confidence  of  its  efficacy  to  sustain  and  to  save,  he  rolls 


296  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

back  the  face  of  his  throne,  summons  mankind  before  him, 
calls  for  his  thunders,  and  the  ministers  of  his  wrath,  im- 
uncovers  the  mouth  of  the  bottomless  pit;  and,  while  jus- 
tice is  in  its  full  areer  of  punishment,  he  throws  over  his 
people  the  shield  of  his  favor,  and  canopies  them  with  al- 
mighty grace.  Well  can  he  afford  to  disclose  the  utmost 
terrors  of  that  day,  for  he  feels  that  he  is  able  to  save  unto 
the  uttermost;  he  knows  that  even  now  he  can  pluck  from 
the  mind  the  sting  of  conscious  guilt,  and  replace  it  with 
a  peace  passing  all  understanding,  thus  enabling  his  dis- 
ciples to  long  and  look  for  his  appearing;  and  he  knows 
that  then,  while  all  the  guilty  shall  wail  because  of  him, 
his  people,  upheld  by  his  grace,  shall  rise  superior  to  dis- 
may, and  shall  only  recognize  in  the  pomp  and  grandeur 
of  the  scene,  the  celebration  of  their  own  triumph,  and  oc- 
casions for  their  joy.  The  saved  and  the  lost  will  then 
meet  together  for  the  last  time  in  contrast  before  his  throne. 
And,  as  it  will  be  the  last  time  the  righteous  will  be  able 
to  triumph  on  so  large  a  scale  befor,e  the  intermediate  eyes 
of  the  wicked;  and,  as  the  scene  will  be  enacted  partly  to 
make  that  triumph  complete,  we  may  be  assured  that  every 
thing  present  will  tend  to  crown  their  glory  with  perfec- 
tion. Sin  will  have  reached  maturity  in  the  wicked,  and 
prepared  them  for  hell ;  holiness  will  have  attained  matu- 
rity in  the  righteous,  and  prepared  them  for  heaven  ;  and 
when  the  purity  and  beauty,  the  joy  and  glory  on  the  right 
hand,  shall  be  seen  in  immediate  contrast  with  the  awful 
array  on  the  left,  all  will  acknowledge  that  the  salvation  of 
his  people,  as  there  displayed,  is  a  worthy  result  of  all  his 
stupenduous  plans,  and  abundantly  exceeds  all  the  lofty 
things  he  has  spoken  concerning  them.  In  that  one  scene 
shall  be  combined,  the  consummation  of  all  the  plans  of 
time,  the  rehearsal  of  all  the  glories  of  eternity.  Oh,  who 
can  revere 'him  too  profoundly,  love  him  too  ardently,  or 
rely  on  him  too  confidently. 


E  S  SAY     III. 
SPIRITUALITY  OF  OUR  LORD'S  TEACHING. 


1  The  words  that  I  speak  unto  you  are  spirit,  and  are  life.' 


T.  THE  doctrine  of  the  spirituality  of  the  divine  nature, 
lies  at  the  foundation  of  all  true  religion.  Accordingly,  to 
assert  and  preserve  it  was  one  of  the  avowed  designs  of 
the  Jewish  economy.  But  the  frequency  with  which  it 
became  necessary  for  God  to  republish  and  defend  the  doc- 
trine, showed  how  unknown  and  uncongenial  it  is  to  the 
unenlightened  mind  of  man,  and  how  difficult  to  maintain 
it  in  combination  with  an  economy  of  carnal  ordinanc.es. 
It  is  true,  indeed,  that  for  some  time  prior  to  the  advent  of 
Christ,  the  Jews  had  not  so  entirely  lost  it  as  to  relapse 
into  the  worship  of  idols;  yet,  short  of  this,  their  views  of 
God  were  at  perfect  variance  with  the  belief  of  his  spirit- 
ual nature.  Divesting  him  of  all  the  properties  peculiar 
to  that  nature,  the  popular  creed  pourtrayed  him  as  circum- 
scribed in  his  essence,  and  local  in  his  residence,  with  a 
jurisdiction  which  dispensed  with  the  inward  homage  of 
the  heart,  and  which  only  took  cognizance  of  outward 
acts. 

But  if,  in  the  prevailing  belief  of  the  Jews,  the  Deity 
was  only  almost,  in  that  of  the  heathen  world,  he  was  al- 
together such  a  one  as  themselves.  They  had  gradually 
disqualified  themselves  for  all  virtue,  and  prepared,  them- 
selves for  the  commission  of  every  vice,  by  debasing  him 
to  a  level  with  themselves,  and  ascribing  to  him  the  attri- 
butes of  a  corporeal  being.  God — the  invisible,  the  al- 


298  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

mighty,  the  omnipresent,  the  omniscient  Spirit — was  not  in 
all  their  thoughts.  What  an  awful  vacuity!  He  was  ex- 
cluded from  his  own  world  ;  lost  to  his  intelligent  creatures ; 
while  his  place  was  occupied  with  the  fictions  of  human 
fancy,  and  beings  of  material  forrp. 

4  God  is  a  Spirit ; '  such  is  the  simple  announcement  by 
which  Jesus  dispersed  the  legions  of  idolatrous  error,  and 
restored  God  to  the  world.  This  was  the  fundamental 
principle  of  his  theology.  In  harmony  with  its  import- 
ance, he  taught  it  in  every  stage  of  his  ministry,  and  in  all 
varieties  of  form.  The  God  he  proclaimed  is  all-knowing 
and  every  where  present,  and  to  whom  all  things  are  pos- 
sible; a  being  whom  no  man  hath  seen  nor  can  see,  and 
who  requires  to  be  worshipped  in  spirit  and  in  truth  ; 
whose  new  evangelical  kingdom  on  earth  is  to  be  seated  in 
the  human  soul,  having  spiritual  laws  enforced  by  spiritu- 
al sanctions,  and  administered  by  the  agency  of  his  Holy 
Spirit.  By  thus  attesting  the  spirituality  of  the  divine  na- 
ture, and  making  it  a  fundamental  doctrine  of  his  gos- 
pel, our  Lord  lifted  the  mind  of  man  from  earth  to  heav- 
en;  provided  against  all  our  tendencies  to  materialise  and 
debase  religion  ;  furnished  a  motive  for  every  virtue;  kin- 
dled in  his  church  a  central,  all-pervading  light:  and  ani- 
mated all  piety  with  a  living  soul. 

II.  Agreeably  to  the  spirituality  of  the  Supreme  Being, 
and  the  relation  in  which  we  stand  to  him  as  his  spiritual 
offspring,  in  exercising  the  prerogative  of  lawgiver,  he 
had  legislated  for  the  soul.  Human  laws,  for  reasons  the 
most  obvious,  can  only  take  cognizance  of  outward  acts. 
But  even  the  positive  rites  of  the  Jewish  code  however 
carnal  in  their  nature,  and  temporary  in  their  obligation, 
were  specifially  designed  and  constructed  for  the  soul; 
while  of  the  moral  law,  the  soul  was  the  proper  sphere, 


HIS       SPIRITUALITY.  299 

the  peculiar  province  of  jurisdiction  ;  it  claims  authority 
over  actions  only  as  they  are  the  motions  and  expressions 
of  the  in-dwelling  soul.  It  is,  in  effect,  the  voice  of  God 
speaking  to  the  soul,  and  for  it :  giving  utterance  and  en- 
ergy to  the  enlightened- and  original  dictates  of  the  man 
within.  But  in  entire  oblivion  or  open  defiance,  of  its 
spiritual  nature,  the  Jews  had  *  made  it  of  none  effect  by 
their  tradition.'  Having  dethroned  and  dismissed  it  from 
within,they  limited  its  jurisdiction  to  the  outward  life,  guard- 
ing every  avenue  by  which  it  might  return  and  resume  its 
seat  by  a  trivial  ceremony,  or  a  precarious  tradition.  And 
not  only  so,  they  bought  themselves  off  at  pleasure,  from 
even  an  outward  observance  of  the  moral  law,  purchased  a 
dispensation  to  transgress  it,  at  the  easy  price  of  a  little  ad- 
ditional punctiliousness  in  the  ritual  worship.  Thus  dis- 
credited and  disowned,  its  authority  was  merely  nominal; 
and  the  only  rank  it  was  permitted  to  take  was  below  the 
emptiest  superstition. 

But  Jesus  came  to  its  rescue ;  restored  to  it  the  spirit 
and  office  which,  in  their  hands,  it  had  lost.  The  tables 
of  the  law  prostrate  and  defaced,  and  overlaid  with  the  long 
accumulated  dust  and  rubbish  of  rabbinical  lore,  he  drew 
forth  and  again  set  up:  and  retracing  their  characters 
afresh  as  with  the  finger  of  infinite  purity,  he  re-published 
them  with  an  authority  and  effect  which  the  fires  of  Sinai 
re-kindled  could  not  have  increased.  As  expounded  and 
enforced  by  his  lips,  especially  in  his  sermon  on  the  mount, 
they  not  only  retrieved  their  original  honors,  but  acquired 
a  more  perfectly  reasoned  and  undeniable  title  to  rule  and 
reign  in  the  heart.  He  claimed  for  the  operation  of  the 
divine  law,  a  scope  and  space  as  free  and  unbounded  as  the 
divine  essence.  He  showed  that,  like  the  elemantal  fire, 
it  is  not  only  present  where  it  is  grossly  visible,  but  that  it 
is  all-pervading ;  that,  with  a  lidless  and  un-slumbering 


300  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

eye,  its  gaze  is  fixed  on  all  the  thoughts  and  ways  of  the 
world;  that  it  beholds  nothing  of  an  indifferent  nature  in 
the  whole  scene;  but  that  noting,  discriminating,  and 
weighing  all  things,  it  every  where  and  in  every  thing 
discovers  the  elements  of  good  or  evil,  approving  or 
condemning  whatever  transpires.  Opening  the  dark  and 
secret  chambers  of  the  heart,  he  showed  it  there  searching 
for  sin  ;  having  for  its  torch  the  sword  of  avenging  justice, 
with  which  it  flashed  on  the  face  of  conscience  as  it  pass- 
ed, and  detected  sins  which  had  not  yet  dared  to  come  forth 
in  action.  He  showed  it  there,  discovering  and  arraign- 
ing evil  in  its  first  rudiments;  rage,  in  its  spark;  licen- 
tiousness, in  its  first  glance  ;  and  murder  ambushed  in  an 
unbreathed  and  unsuspected  thought ;  sin  in  its  seed,  con- 
cealing the  coming  transgression,  enclosing  the  future  hell. 
So  multiplied  were  the  sub-divisions,  and  so  minute  the 
gradations  of  duty,  devised  by  the  Jews,  that  the  ob  iga- 
iions  of  holiness  were  well  nigh  forgotten,  in  endless  dis- 
putes about  the  comparative  importance  and  precedence  of 
its  several  branches.  Morality,  as  a  practice,  was  in  dan- 
ger of  being  sentenced  to  wait,  till  morality,  as  a  science, 
should  be  complete;  till  they  should  succeed  in  the  hope- 
less task  of  determining  the  merits,  and  adjusting  the  claims 
of  its  respective  parts,  so  as  to  give  it  the  scholastic  air  of 
a  system-  Resolving  their  endless  distinctions  of  duty  into 
two  classes,  our  Lord  not  only  declared  which  is  the  first 
and  great  command,  he  showed  them  that  the  principle  of 
all  obedience,  and  the  substance  of  all  law,  are  essentially 
the  same  ;  that  love  is  the,  fulfilling  of  the  law.  He  taught 
that  'all  the  law  and  the  prophets,'  all  the  duties  enjoined 
from  the  foundation  of  the  world  are  resolvable  into  this 
as  their  life  and  essence:  and  that  consequently,  wherever 
this  principle  exists,  though  the  subjects  of  it  maybe  igno- 
rant that  such  duties  have  been  formerly  enjoined,  it  would 


HIS       SPIRITUALITY.  301 

by  the  necessity  of  its  nature  unfold  and  expand,  putting" 
forth  all  the  fruits  and  beauties  of  holiness  :  that  it  is  the 
principle  which  is  in  the  stead  of  law,  and  the  fulfillment 
of  all  law. 

And  to  the  law  of  God  thus  explained  and  enforced,  he 
put  the  seal  of  eternity.  In  the  hands  of  the  Jews,  it  had 
been  made  to  vary  its  demands,  accommodating  its  require- 
ments to  the  changing  temperature  of  times  and  circum- 
stances ;  but,  as  the  principles  on  which  it  rests  can  know 
no  change,  he  proclaimed  its  immutability.  'For  verily 
I  say  unto  you.  Till  heaven  and  earth  pass,  one  jot  or  one 
tittle  shall  in  no  wise  pass  from  the  law  till  all  be  fulfilled.' 
Having  raised  and  restored  it  to  all  its  original  claims,  he 
published  it  anew  as  the  rule  of  our  spiritual  nature ;  the 
perfect,  universal,  and  perpetual  standard,  to  which  the 
entire  man  must  be  conformed. 

III.  From  his  exposition  of  the  moral  law,  it  is  only  a 
short  and  easy  transition  to  the  spiritual  character  which 
his  teaching  prescribed  for. 

I.  The  worship  of  God.  There  is  a  sense  in  which 
spiritual  devotion  stands  opposed  to  that  which  is  local. 
Among  the  many  restrictions  peculiar  to  the  Jewish  econo- 
my, one  was,  that  after  the  erection  of  the  temple  at  Jeru- 
salem, it  becadne  impious  to  perform  certain  rites  at  any 
other  place.  Hence  the  difficulty  expressed  by  the  woman 
of  Samaria,  as  to  the  proper  place  of  devotion.  Jesus  an- 
nounced that,  by  the  introduction  of  the  gospel,  all  such 
local  distinctions  would  cease,  and  that  believers  would 
offer  their  spiritual  sacrifices  wherever,  and  as  often  as 
they  chose.  On  another  occasion  he  declared  to  his  disci- 
ples, '  Wherever  two  or  three  are  met  together  in  my  name, 
there  am  I  in  the  midst  of  them  ;'  thus  asserting  the  spirit- 
uality and  immensity  of  his  divine  nature,  and  harmoniz- 


302  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

ing  with  the  spiritual  character  and  universal  extension  of 
his  church.  While  by  the  final  commission  which  he 
gave  to  his  disciples  to  carry  his  gospel  into  all  nations,  he 
abrogated  the  law  of  local  sanctity,  consecrated  the  wide 
world  to  the  worship  of  God.  and  appointed  the  whole 
earth  to  be  the  'mountain  of  holiness.' 

2.  The  spirituality  of  worship  which  Jesus  taught  is 
contradistinguished  from  ceremonial  observances.  God  is 
a  spirit,  and  the  only  devotion  compatible  w'ith  his  nature 
is  that  which  flows  from  the  souls  of  his  worshippers.  In 
prescribing  the  ritual  part  of  a  religion,  he  is  to  be  regard- 
ed as  consulting  not  the  spirituality  of  his  own,  but  the 
materiality  and  infirmities  of  our  nature;  as  relaxing  fche 
demands  of  his  heavenly,  to  meet  the  necessities  of  our 
earthly.  But  as  his  only  aim,  in  thus  suspending  the  re- 
quirements which  are  proper  to  his  nature,  is  to  engage 
and  assist  our  souls  in  his  service,  so  the  religion  which 
attains  this  end  with  the  fewest  forms  is  regarded  by  him 
as  the  most  perfect.  It  is  more  congenial  to  his  spiritual 
nature,  and  less  ensnaring  to  our  formality.  On  this  prin- 
ciple it  is  t,hat  the  Christian  dispensation,  which  when 
compared  with  the  Jewish,  ranks  so  much  higher  in  moral 
excellence,  was  assigned  to  the  hands  of  Jesus  to  bestow 
as  an  incomparably  better  gift.  And  of  the  heavenly  state, 
where  devotion  is  carried  to  the  highest  perfection,  John 
informs  us  that  he  saw  no  temple  therein :  it  is  dispensed 
with  there,  as  an  unnecessary  appendage.  The  worship- 
pers there  are  independent  of  time,  and  place,  and  circum- 
stance. By  such  restrictions  they  would  deem  their  wor- 
ship impeded  and  disfigured.  Devotion  there,  divested  of 
all  its  earthly  vestments,  is  reduced  to  its  pure  essential 
elements.  The  soul  of  religion  enters  there  alone,  and 
hence  the  superiority  and  perfection  of  the  worship. 

The  ritual  of  the  Jews  indeed  prescribed  a  multitude  of 


HIS       SPIRITUALITY.  303 

perpetually  recurring  observances.     But,  though  burdened 
with  ceremonies,   it  was  highly  significant  of  all  that  is 
spiritual  and  essential  in  the  present  economy.      That  its 
rites  were  not  necessary  to  salvation  must  have  been   evi- 
dent to  the  reflecting  Israelite,  from  the  fact  that  many  had 
been  saved  before  they  were  prescribed.      To  secure  and 
vindicate  the  spirituality  of  the  divine  worship  was  one  of 
its  chief  and  avowed  objects.     For  this  the  Almighty  pro- 
claimed himself  a  jealous  God.     Hence,  too,  the  rigorous 
prohibition  of  graven  images  ;  the  certain  and  awful  pun- 
ishment which  followed  every  lapse  into  idolatry;   the  fre- 
quency with   which  he  directed   his  prophets  to   correct 
their  formality  by  partially  disparaging  the  appointed  forms 
of  their  service,  '  desiring  mercy  and  not  sacrifice,  and  the 
knowledge  of  God  more  than  burnt  offerings  ;'    by  insist- 
ing on  the  emptiness  of  ritual  worship,   unless  accompa- 
nied by  the  sacrifice  of  a  contrite   spirit ;    by  reminding 
them  during  seasons  of  captivity  and  war,  when  the  ob- 
servance of  their  rites  was  not  in  their  power,,  that  if  they 
still  retained  the  piety  of  the  heart,  they  possessed  the  es- 
sence and  core  of  true  religion  ;  all  of  which  combined  to 
preserve  and  promote  the  spirituality  of  their  devotion. 
Piety,  indeed,  has  always  been  composed  of  the  same  ele- 
ments, and  issued   in  the  same  result — the  production  of 
spiritual  men.      For  this,  the  legal  economy  may  be  said 
to  have  travailed  and  been  in  birth.      Yet,  however  labo- 
rious the  process,   and  elementary  the  character  it  produ- 
ced,  it  could  be  satisfied  with  nothing  less.      Disowning- 
and  rejecting  the  formalist  as  a  reproach,  it  acknowledged 
for  its  offspring  none  who  bore  not  its  spiritual  impress  ; 
and  equally  with  the  gospel,  reserved  its  ultimate  rewards 
for  the  '  Israelite  indeed.'     Over  every  gate  of  the  temple, 
it  may  be  said  to  have  exhibited  this  inscription,  *  He  is  not 
a  Jew  who  is  one  outwardly;  neither  is  that  circumcision 


304 


THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 


which  is  outward  in  the  flesh  :  but  he  is  a  Jew  who  is  one 
inwardly,  and  circumcision  is  that  of  the  heart,  in  the 
spirit  and  not  in  the  letter  ;  whose  praise  is  not  of  men, 
but  of  God.' 

But  though  that  economy  contemplated  the  pure  and 
cordial  worship  of  God,  yet  spirituality  was  not  its  char- 
acteristic. It  was  light  only  in  comparison  with  the  sur- 
rounding darkness  of  ignorance  and  idolatry.  As  viewed 
from  heaven  its  devotion  must  have  appeared  remote,  labo- 
rious, and  material.  Its  names,  to  be  descriptive  and  ap- 
propriate, could  only  be  taken  from  its  ritual  character  ; 
hence  it  is  denominated,  '  the  hand-writing  of  ordinances  ;' 
1  the  law  of  commandments  contained  in  ordinances;'  'a 
figure  for  the  time  then  present ;'  '  which  stood  only  in 
meats  and  drinks,  and  divers  washings,  and  carnal  ordin- 
ances;'  and  for  a  similar  reason  its  disciples  called  them- 
selves -the  temple  and  the  circumcision.  Each  of  the  su- 
pernatural doctrines  it  taught  was  veiled.  It  contained  truth 
only  in  the  seed  or  the  husk.  Its  most  striking  and  in- 
structive parts  were  'only  figures  of  the  true.3  The  law 
made  nothing  perfect.  It  left  the  Adorable  himself  in  shad- 
ow. Like  its  own  awful  and  unapproachable  veil,  it  at  once 
contained  and  concealed  ;  investing  the  spiritual  with  ma- 
terial forms,  and  placing  the  glorious  in  distant  obscurity. 

But  it  was  only  meant  for  a  temporary  purpose:  'being* 
imposed  until  the  time  of  reformation'  by  Christ.  In  the 
execution  of  his 'office  he  gradually  repealed  the  whole 
ceremonial.  '  Go,'  said  he,  '  and  learn  what  that  meaneth, 
I  will  have  mercy  and  not  sacrifice ;'  thus  virtually  dis- 
countenancing the  ritual  of  their  religion,  he  exalted  char- 
acter into  supreme  importance,  implying  its  independent 
sufficiency,  and  the  possibility  that  under  a  new  dispensa- 
tion it  might  exist  alone.  By  dispensing  with  all  pomp 
and  state  in  his  own  person,  and  demanding  regeneration 


HIS       SPIRITUALITY.  305 

as  the  only  qualification  for  the  kingdom  of  God;  he  taught 
that  religion  was  henceforth  to  prove  its  independence  of 
forms  ;  that,  dismissing  all  its  earthly  allies  and  appenda- 
ges, it  was  to  rest  its  claims  on  its  own  intrinsic  merits  ;  to 
walk  the  eart'i  in  unattended  majesty,  indebted  for  all  its 
attractions  and  triumphs,  to  the  invisible  Spirit  alone. 

His  prediction  of  the  entire  destruction  of  the  temple, 
intimated  the  approaching  purification  of  religion.  The 
temple  was  the  fixed  and  only  home  of  the  ceremonial  in- 
stitute. During  the  earlier  history  of  that  institute  it  had 
been  migratory;  'I  have  not,'  saith  God,  'dwelt  in  any 
house  since  the  time  that  I  brought  up  the  children  of  Is- 
rael out  of  Egypt,  even  to  this  day,  but  have  walked  in  a 
tent  and  in  a  tabernacle.'  The  erection  of  the  temple  gave 
to  it  locality,  consolidation,  and  repose  ;  was  the  appropriate 
token  and  promise  of  its  stability  ;  and  accordingly  around 
that  sacred  fane  the  nation  settled  and  built  a  home  in  re- 
liance on  that  stability.  The  unqualified  prediction  of  it$ 
fall  then  involved  the  abrogation  of  its  peculiar  rites.  The 
prophecy  of  its  former  demolition,  only  involved  the  sus- 
pension of  these  rites ;  for  it  was  accompanied  and  even 
preceded  by  a  promise  of  its  restoration.  But  Jesus,  by 
announcing  the  deletion,  the  utter  erasure  of  the  temple 
from  the  face  of  the  earth,  without  any  reserve  for  the  fu- 
ture, intimated  the  irrevocable  nature  of  its  fall,  the  visible 
repeal  of  the  religion  which  dwelt  in  it,  and  4  the  bringing 
in  of  a  better  hope,  by  the  which  we  draw  nigh  unto  God.' 

By  announcing  that  he  was  greater  than  the  temple,  he 
virtually  displaced  it  with  all  its  contents,  and  remained 
himself  in  the  place  it  had  occupied  :  and  by  proclaiming 
himself  *  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life,'  he  intimated  that 
all  the  typic  rites  had  found  their  prototype  and  fulfillment 
in  himself,  and  that  henceforth  all  the  offices  of  the  church 
Would  be  absorbed  and  centered  in  himself  alone.  Hither- 
19 


306  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

to,  the  worship  of  God  had  been  conducted,  so  to  speak, 
at  a  distance,  believers  approaching  him  only  through  in- 
termediate forms  ;  but  Jesus  annihilated  that  distance  and 
dispensed  with  these  forms  :  supplying  them  with  the  in- 
cense of  his  own  name,  he  constitutes  each  of  them  a  spir- 
itual priest,  leads  them  direct  to  an  immediate  audience 
with  God,  and,  placing  them  around  the  footstool  of  mercy, 
commands  them  to  'ask  and  receive,  that  their  joy  may  be 
full.'  When  solicited  to  decide  between  the  respective 
merits  of  the  Jewish  and  Samaritan  rituals,  he  intimated 
that  the  time  had  arrived  when  the  question  ceased  to  be 
important,  since  both  of  them  were  about  to  be  annulled 
and  superseded  ;  '  The  hour  cometh,'  said  he,  *  and  now  is, 
when  the  true  worshippers  shall  worship  the  Father  in 
spirit  and  in  truth  ;  for  the  Father  seeketh  such  to  worship 
him.' 

In  harmony  with  this  representation,  the  disciples  of 
Christ  are  distinguished  as  'the  true  circumcision,  who 
worship  God  in  the  Spirit.'  He  introduces  them  into  a 
church  from  which  he  has  swept  every  vestige  of  the  an- 
cient rites.  He  allows  them  to  restore  none  of  these  rites, 
nor  to  substitute  aught  in  lieu  of  them,  at  the  awful  peril 
of  his  displeasure.  When  they  come  into  his  courts,  he 
requires  that  nothing  be  laid  upon  his  alcar  but  'spiritual 
sacrifices  ;'  that  nothing  appear  before  him  but  our  spirits 
communing  with  his  Spirit.  He  looks  for  an  assembly  of 
human  hearts,  of  naked  human  hearts  ;  and  when  he  be- 
holds them  engaged,  delighted,  absorbed  in  his  worship, 
he  contemplates  an  object  far  more  acceptable  than  the 
flaming  sacrifice  of  the  whole  material  world. 

And  the  quality  of  the  provision  which  he  has  made  for 
his  worship,  perfectly  corresponds  with  the  spirituality  of 
its  nature  and  requirements.  He  has  placed  it  under  the 
entire  superintendence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  whose  aid  he 


HIS       SPIRITUALITY.  307 

instructed  his  disciples  to  consider  as  absolutely  necessary 
and  all-sufficient.  A  convert  from  Judaism  must  have  felt 
an  amazing  change,  in  passing  from  its  crowded  and  pomp- 
ous ritual,  to  the  severe  simplicity  of  the  Christian  church. 
In  a  literal  sense,  he  exchanged  the  gorgeous  magnificence 
of  the  temple  for  the  bare  and  unpretending  plainness  of 
4  an  upper  room  ;'  and  in  a  spiritual  point  of  view  he  did 
the  same.  But  then,  among  the  new  and  numerous  ad- 
vantages arising  from  the  transition,  it  might  be  said  that 
he  found  that  room  to  be  within  the  veil.  He  left  the  rites 
to  stand  in  the  presence  of  the  God.  He  emerged  from 
the  cloud  of  incense  to  find  himself  alone  with  the  great 
Spirit  of  the  new  dispensation.  *  Likewise  also  the  Spirit,' 
he  could  say,  '  helpeth  our  infirmities.'  Employed  by  Jesus, 
the  divine  Spirit  whom  he  departed  to  send,  compensates 
for  the  loss  of  the  material  sanctuary  by  erecting  the  soul 
of  the  believer  into  a  living  temple.  Having  cleansed  and 
made  it  consecrate,  and  kindled  on  its  altar  a  sacred  fire, 
he  himself  condescends  to  assume  the  office  of  conducting 
its  worship.  Acting  the  part  of  its  high  priest  and  inter- 
cessor, he  prepares  and  presents  to  God  the  welcome  sac- 
rificeof  a  broken  and  contrite  heart.  He  calls  the  thoughts, 
and  affections,  and  desires  away  from  the  world,  and  con- 
ducts them  like  a  band  of  humble  worshippers  to  the  throne 
of  God  ;  constraining  the  soul  and  all  that  is  within  it,  to 
bless  and  praise  his  holy  name. 

3.  Another  species  of  worship  to  which  spiritual  and 
acceptable  devotion  is  opposed,  is  that  which  is  prescribed 
by  human  authority.  Destitute  of  that  faith  which  ranges 
the  invisible  world,  and  which  makes  the  interior  of  the 
temple  above  its  own,  the  Jews  sought  to  supply  the  defect 
by  perpetually  multiplying  the  objects  and  observances  of 
their  earthly  temple.  Being  prevented,  by  the  unchange- 
able nature  of  their  constitution,  from  cultivating  the  science 


308  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

of  civil  legislation ;  and  by  the  intrusion  of  foreign  domi- 
nation from  the  exercise  of  the  highest  executive  powers, 
religion  was  doomed  to  receive  the  undivided  attentions  of 
•worldly  ambition  ;  the  temple  was  the  great  national  valve 
through  which  that  principl  >,  \vhic.h  loves  to  enact  and 
create,  found  an  escape.  But  to  add  to  the  appointments 
of  God  in  religion,  to  legislate  where  he  had  been  legis- 
lating before,  is  to  imply  that  we  understand  the  wants  and 
niceties  of  our  human,  and  the  requirements  of  his  divine 
nature,  better,  than  he  does,  and  are  more  concerned  to 
meet  them.  Tt  is  to  set  up  our  throne  by  his  throne,  and 
to  imply  that  we  possess  authority  to  bind  the  conscience 
and  control  the  heart.  Besides,  so  comprehensive  and  per- 
fect are  the  divine  appointments,  however  few  and  simple 
they  may  seem,  that  it  is  impossible  for  man  to  introduce 
additions  without  in  some  way  deranging  and  displacing 
these  prior  appointments,  and  doing  violence  to  some  part 
of  human  nature.  If  his  petty  parasitical  additions  take 
root,  they  gradually  shade  and  overtop  the  original  ordi- 
nances of  God,  depriving  them  of  all  that  reverence  of  soul 
which  is  the  appropriate  soil  of  religion,  and  which  be- 
longs to  it  alone.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  they  incur  the 
neglect  their  origin  deserves,  they  are  likely  to  involve  the 
religion  about  which  they  have  entwined  in  the  same  un- 
distinguishing  contempt.  Hence,  said  Jesus,  '  Every  plant 
which  my  heavenly  Father  hath  not  planted,  shall  be  root- 
ed up.'  Arraigning  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  the  profane 
usurpers  of  religious  authority,  he  demanded,  *  Why  do 
ye  transgress  the  commandment  of  God  by  your  tradition  ?' 
And  having  cited  a  single  instance  of  their  impiety,  he 
added,  '  Thus  have  ye  made  the  commandment  of  God  of 
none  effect  by  your  tradition.  Ye  hypocrites,  well  did 
Esaias  prophesy  of  you,  saying,  This  people  draweth  nigh 
unto  me  with  their  mouth,  and  honoreth  me  with  their 


HIS       SPIRITUALITY.  309 

lips;  but  their  heart  is  far  from  me.  But  in  vain  do  they 
worship  me,  teaching  for  doctrines  the  commandments  of 
men.' 

Piety,  or  religious  obedience,  is  a  virtue  in  the  sight  of 
God,  only  as  it  is  a  compliance  with  his  authority;  so  that 
for  man  to  assume  the  power  of  prescribing,  is  to  make 
virtue  impossible:  it  is  to  poison  duty  at  the  fountain- 
head  ;  to  turn  the  waters  of  the  sanctuary  into  an  element 
of  impurity  and  death.  To  save  his  purer  religion  from 
this  deadly  ingredient — that  is,  if  any  language  could  have 
saved  it — not  only  did  Jesus  institute  a  more  spiritual  wor- 
ship, and  one  therefore  less  liable  to  combine  with  human 
admixtures,  he  proclaims  its  entireness  and  sufficiency,  and 
his  own  exclusive  authority  in  the  church.  To  those  who 
would  convert  his  house  into  a  battlemented  and  frowning 
fortress,  he  addresses  the  language  of  mild  remonstrance, 
and  says,  'ye  know  not  what  manner  of  spirit  ye  are  of.' 
*  The  Son  of  man  came  not  to  destroy  men's  lives,  but  to 
save  them.'  *  Put  up  the  sword  again  into  its  place.'  '  If 
my  kingdom  were  of  this  world  then  would  my  servants 
fight,  but  now  is  it  not  from  hence.'  Stripping  off  the  tinsel 
trappings,  with  which  men  in  their  love  for  pomp  and  show 
would  fain  adorn  his  spiritual  throne,  he  reminds  them  that 
his  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world.  He  authoritatively  silen- 
ces the  lowest  tone,  the  first  syllable,  of  human  legislation 
in  his  worship,  by  proclaiming,  *  One  is  your  master,  even 
Christ;  and  all  ye  are  brethren.'  On  conducting  the  Gen- 
tile world  into  his  church,  his  disciples  were  to  inculcate 
the  observance  of  his  commands,  and  his  alone  : — *  teach- 
ing them  to  observe  all  things  whatsoever  I  have  command- 
ed ;' — this  is,  at  once,  the  ample  extent,  and  the  well  defin- 
ed limits  of  the  evangelical  commission.  Drawing  around 
his  church  a  line  of  spiritual  interdiction,  he  requires  that 
before  it  be  crossed,  every  badge  of  authority  be  laid  aside. 


310  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

that  every  high  thing  which  exalteth  itself  he  left  without, 
and  allows  nothing  to  obtain  currency  and  acceptance  as 
devotion  within,  which  does  not  bear  the  mintage  and  im- 
press of  his  image,  the  superscription  of  his  name. 

4.  And  the  spirituality  of  devotion  which  Jesus  taught 
is  opposed  to  that  which  is  formal  and  insincere.  In  relig- 
ion the  heart  is  every  thing;  if  the  heart  be  absent  from 
the  worship  of  God,  the  man  is  absent ;  or,  what  is  worse, 
the  Omniscient  beholds,  in  the  stead  of  a  sincere  worship- 
per, a  piece  of  solemn  formality  going  through  the  attitudes 
and  signs  of  devotion,  and  even  uttering  the  affecting  lan- 
guage of  confession,  supplication,  and  praise,  but  entirely 
devoid  of  any  corresponding  emotions  within.  He  beholds 
moreover,  in  the  rights  of  such  worship,  an  array  of  spir- 
itual idols:  of  means  converted  into  ends;  of  forms  erect- 
ed into  objects  of  trust,  supplanting  him  and  substituted  in 
his  stead,  robbing  him  of  the  homage  which  is  due  unto 
his  name.  The  idols  of  the  heathen  stood  between  earth 
and  heaven,  obscuring  the  vision  of  God,  intercepting  and 
appropriating  the  mountain  incense  which  should  have  as- 
cended to  the  eternal  throrfe.  The  rites  of  the  formalist 
are  his  spiritual  idols ;  instead  of  leading  his  thoughts  on- 
wards to  God,  they  stand  between  him  and  the  professed 
object  of  his  worship,  concealing  God  from  his  view,  en- 
grossing his  soul  to  themselves,  and  leaving  behind  them 
a  feeling  of  satisfaction  simply  because  they  have  been  re- 
vered and  observed. 

By  attesting  the  spirituality  of  the  divine  nature,  our 
Lord  taught  that  the  heart  is  indispensable  in  devotion. 
For  if  God  be  a  spirit,  it  follows  that  our  worship,  to  be  ac- 
ceptable, must  correspond  with  his  nature.  Accordingly, 
when  we  come  before  him,  he  requires  that  the  soul,  the 
noblest  part  of  our  nature,  should  do  him  homage:  that 
our  thoughts  should  relate  to  him,  our  affections  embrace 


HIS       SPIRITUALITY.  311 

him,  that  our  spiritual  nature  should  go  forth  and  seek 
communion  with  him;  nor  can  he  be  imposed  on  by  mere 
forms  and  semblances,  for,  being  spirit  he  is  perfectly  ac- 
quainted with  all  other  spirits  ;  intimately,  and  always  pre- 
sent with  them. 

If  devotion  be  regarded  as  the  use  and  application  of  a 
spiritual  remedy,  the  Saviour  taught  the  same  important  les- 
son, by  describing  the  heart  as  the  seat  of  our  moral  disease, 

'  Out  of  the  heart,'  said  he,  '  proceed  evil  thoughts, 

these  are  the  things  which  defile  a  man  ;  but  to  eat  bread 
with  unwashed  hands,  this  defileth  not  a  man.'  The  heart 
then  is  the  source  of  moral  defilement ;  not  only  does  it 
originate  all  the  evil  which  appears  in  the  life,  it  must  plead 
guilty  to  a  mass  of  evil  which  never  comes  forth  into  the 
conduct;  the  ungodliness  that  appears  in  the  life,  is  barely 
the  overflowings  of  an  ungodly  heart.  It  originates  many 
a  thought  which  the  tongue  never  breathes  in  the  softest 
whisper;  and  many  a  desire  which  is  smothered  in  the 
birth  as  too  monstrous  to  see  the  day  ;  anj  purposes  with- 
out number,  for  which  the  darkness  of  night  would  be  too 
light  and  the  secrecy  of  solitude  too  public.  Well  may 
the  prophet  exclaim,  in  allusion  to  its  desperate  wickedness, 
*  Who  can  know  it?'  it  has  intricacies,  which  no  other 
creature  can  penetrate  ;  recesses,  which  the  man  himself 
cannot  explore;  depths  which  God  alone  is  able  to  fathom. 
It  is  there  that  error  takes  its  rise  as  from  a  fountain,  and 
thence  all  the  streams  of  error  are  constantly  fed.  There 
it  is  that  sin  sows  its  poisonous  seed  as  in  ground  prepared 
for  its  reception,  and  where  it  is  sure  to  take  root.  There 
it  is  that  malice  muses  its  deep-laid  projects  of  revenge; 
that  lust  revels  in  thoughts  of  sensual  indulgence;  that 
treachery  plots  and  cherishes  it  dark  designs.  It  is  in 
the  heart  that  the  fool  says  what  he  fears  to  utter  with 
his  tongue, '  No  God.'  There  it  is  that  scepticsm  harbors 


312  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

its  hard  thoughts  of  God,  and  that  our  natural  enmity 
against  him  finds  a  home.  It  is  the  treasury  of  sin,  where 
all  its  resources  are  kept  against  the  hour  of  opportunity. 
It  is  the  hiding  place  of  sin,  where  it  often  lurks  unknown 
to  us,  and  whence  it  frequently  steals  forth  and  takes  us  by 
surprise.  It  is  the  first  place  which  sin  enters,  and  the 
last  which  it  leaves ;  for  sin  not  only  takes  up  its  abode  in 
the  heart  before  it  appears  in  the  conduct,  but  how  often 
does  it  occur,  that  after  sin  has  been  banished  from  the  out- 
ward life,  it  only  retires  back  again  and  hides  itself  in  the 
heart.  Having  taken  up  a  commanding  position  in  the 
heart  and  fortified  and  entrenched  itself  there,  it  mocks 
every  effort  made  to  dislodge  it,  which  does  not  reach  and 
shake  the  very  centre  of  our  being. 

Religion  then,  the  antagonist  force  which  is  to  expel  sin 
from  our  nature,  must  be  conveyed  into  the  same  seat,  must 
meet  the  enemy  on  its  own  ground,  must  attack  and  van- 
quish it  in  its  strong  hold.  '  Make  the  tree  good,'  saith 
Christ,  'and  the  fruit  will  be  good.'  Our  visible  piety 
must  be  the  fruit  of  a  tree  whose  roots  are  struck  deep  in 
the  heart. 

The  loftiest  distinction  in  his  kingdom  he  reserved  for 
the  pure  in  heart.  According  to  a  law  in  nature  which  uni- 
versally prevails,  a  change  in  the  constitution  of  any  crea- 
frure  is  followed  by  a  corresponding  change  in  his  condi- 
tion. When  changed  from  pollution  to  purity,  his  people 
shall  be  blessed  by  purity,  be  brought  into  the  presence  of 
celestial  purity,  be  beloved  by  infinite  purity,  shall  ascend 
to  the  beatific  vision  of  God  as  to  their  original  birth- 
right. '  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart,  for  they  shall  see 
God.' 

While  leading  his  disciples  into  the  presence  of  God, 
he  impressed  on  them  what  they  were  chiefly  to  implore ; 
they  were  to  solicit  that  all-comprehending  gift,  the  Holy 


HIS       SPIRITUALITY.  813 

Spirit:  a  gift  which,  from  its  very  nature,  would  demand 
their  heart  for  the  place  of  its  reception.  And  if  it  be 
found  impossible,  owing  to  a  fixed  and  infallible  law  of  our 
being,  to  associate  even  with  a  fellow-mortal  without  re- 
ceiving moral  modification,  a  degree  of  assimilation  to 
his  character,  how  can  the  supreme,  the  ever-active  and 
all-assimilating  Spirit,  take  up  his  abode  in  the  midst  of 
our  nature  without  changing  the  heart  and  conforming  it 
to  his  own  holiness. 

Placing  himself  between  the  mercy-seat  and  the  crowd 
of  heartless  worshippers  that  beset  it,  he  shamed  their  vain 
ostentation,  silenced  their  endless  repetitions,  and  lifting 
up  the  drapery  of  the  breast,  he  showed  them  to  them- 
selves hollow  and  heartless,  and  dismissed  them  with  de- 
nunciations instead  of  blessings.  Having  removed  the 
hypocritical  throng,  he  sought  to  surround  the  footstool  of 
grace  with  Israelites  indeed.  To  engage  their  affections 
in  prayer,  he  taught  them  to  call  the  Being  they  addressed 
by  the  endearing  name  of  Father;  thus  allaying  their 
fears,  and  awakening  and  consecrating  their  filial  instincts 
to  devotion.  To  call  forth  the  ardor  of  their  souls,  he  held 
up  a  prize  of  prayer  before  their  eyes  ;  gave  to  it  the  most 
alluring  names;  called  it  imperishable  wealth — good 
things — the  Holy  Spirit — eternal  life  ;  or,  as  though  no 
language  could  describe  the  efficacy  he  would  assign  to 
prayer,  he  assured  them,  that  ask  what  they  would,  it 
should  be  done  for  them  ;  that  they  should  find  the  treasu- 
ry of  heaven,  and  all  the  resources  of  God,  open  and  ac- 
cessible to  them. 

To  show  them  the  triumph  of  feeling  over  form,  he 
brought  them  by  parable,  into  the  temple,  and  directed  their 
attention  to  two  worshippers — the  one,  a  pharisee,  stand- 
ing  erect  before  God;  loud  and  voluble;  with  nothing  but 
virtues  to  recount ;  the  envy  of  his  nation,  the  pride  of  his 


314  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

sect :  the  other  a  publican,  one  of  the  refuse  of  the  people  ; 
bowed,  dejected,  self-condemned  ;  his  eyes  seeking  the 
dust;  his  heart  swollen  even  to  bursting;  his  utterance 
choked  ;  smiting  upon  his  breast  as  the  seat  of  all  his 
agony  and  disease ;  able  only  to  articulate,  *  God  be  mer- 
ciful to  me,  a  sinner.'  But  while  the  former  is  sent 
empty  away,  he  shows  them  the  other  returning  to  his 
house,  rich  in  the  favor  of  God  ;  forgiven,  justified,  happy. 
Thus  he  taught  them  that  prayer  is  a  sigh  ;  a  tear  ;  a 
look;  an  act  of  prostration  ;  a  transaction  of  he  soul  with 
heaven  ;  an  affair  in  which  the  only  office  of  the  tongue  is  to 
unload  the  freighted  and  overflowing  heart,  and  relieve  it 
of  its  oppressive  fulness.  He  encouraged  and  urged 
them,  by  his  own  example,  by  arguments,  by  parables,  hy 
appeals  to  the  parental  affections  of  their  nature,  by  expli- 
cit promises,  to  ask,  to  seek,  to  knock,  to  set  no  bounds  to 
their  importunity,  to  give  unlimited  scope  and  ardor  to 
their  desires ;  and  that  no  doubt  of  welcome  and  success 
might  obtrude  to  check  the  full  flow  and  out  pouring  of 
their  souls  to  God,  he  affirmed  it  to  bean  invariable  prin- 
ciple of  the  divine  government,-  that  every  one  that  asketh, 
receiveth.  And  likening  his  new  and  evangelical  church 
to  a  kingdom,  and  the  entrance  to  it  to  a  strait  gate  and  a 
narrow  way,  a  defile  in  which  hell  has  posted  its  archers  to 
dispute  the  passage,  he  cheered  them  to  the  onset,  bade 
them,  though  at  the  risk  of  an  eye,  a  hand,  or  even  life  it- 
self, to  agonize,  to  force  their  way  as  with  a  spasm  of  en- 
ergy, and  seize  that  kingdom  by  etorm. 

Devotion,  which  to  be  pure  and  vital  must  derive  its  sup- 
plies like  the  living  stream,  by  hidden  communication  with 
the  parent  ocean,  he  found  cut  off  from  the  great  Fountain 
of  life,  and  made  to  consist  in  artificial  jet-works  and  devi- 
ces for  proud  and  public  display.  Its  seclusive  character 
was  entirely  gone.  As  if  the  only  aliment  on  which  it 


HIS       SPIRITUALITY.  315 

could  live  was  publicity,as  if  its  value  depended  entirely  on 
the  degree  in  which  it  was  seen,  its  favorite  resorts  were 
the  chief  seats  in  the  synagogue,  the  corners  of  the  streets, 
and  the  market-place.  Tired  of  the  closet,  and  even  of 
the  sanctuary,  devotion,  or  that  which  passed  for  it,  had 
brought  forth  all  its  symbols  and  apparatus  which  should 
have  been  sacred  to  secresy,  spread  them  abroad  before  the 
public  eye,  and  transacted  its  high  and  solemn  affairs  with 
heaven  at  the  sound  of  the  trumpet,  and  in  the  broad  glare 
of  day.  Reprobating  this  shameless  ostentation  as  hypoc- 
risy, he  assigned  to  its  only  legitimate  reward,  the  notice  of 
man,  the  barren  applause  of  congenial  hypocrisy — and 
left  it  withering  under  the  frown  of  God.  But  taking  the 
subject  of  sincere  devotion  by  the  hand,  he  led  him  to  a 
hushed  and  secret  recess;  and,  closing  the  door,  secluded 
him  from  the  noise  and  observation  of  the  world,  and  left 
him  alone  with  God:  thereto  forget  all  things  but  God 
and  himself;  there  to  discover,  in  his  connatural  affinity 
and  sympathy  with  God  the  hidden  and  dormant  dignity 
of  his  own  nature;  and  thence  to  come  forth  rich  in  the 
smiles  of  his  heavenly  Father,  and,  like  a  priest  fresh 
from  a  cloud  of  incense,  suffused  with  the  holy  fragrance 
of  his  divine  employment. 

IV.  But  that  which  formed  a  prominent  feature  of  our 
Lord's  teaching,  and  which  on  that  account  claims  our  es- 
pecial attention,  was  the  spirituality  of  his  new,  eVangelic- 
al  kingdom.  He  came  to  a  people  possessed  by  the  demon 
of  national  ambition.  Having  secularized  their  relip-ion, 
and  thus  prepared  themselves  for  the  delusion,  their  early 
conquests,  their  miraculous  history,  and  the  glowing  de- 
scriptions of  prophecy  combined  to  foster  the  expectation  of 
their  coming  greatness  and  universal  empire;  while  the 
galling  pressure  of  the  Roman  yoke  rendered  the  vision 


316  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

doubly  precious,  and  heightened  its  splendors,  and  filled 
them  with  a  frenzy  of  impatience  to  behold  it  realized. 
The  advent  of  Messiah  alone  was  wanting  to  make  them  a 
nation  of  princes  and  masters  of  the  world.  On  his  ap- 
pearing, the  nations  were  to  be  summoned  ;  and  submit,  or 
perish.  Leading  forth  an  army  of  conquerers,  the  swords 
of  God,  he  would  make  the  circuit  of  the  earth,  and  return 
with  the  spoils  of  universal  triumph.  Judea  would  hence- 
forth be  a  land  of  palaces,  the  seat  of  terrestial  power,  the 
very  heaven  of  earth.  They  lived  in  the  familiar  contempla- 
tion of  a  vision  in  which  *  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world 
and  the  glories  of  them,'  were  placed  at  their  feet ;  a  vis- 
ion in  which  they  saw  themselves  collected  and  ranged  in 
hierarchal  order,  gradation  above  gradation,  a  towering 
structure  of  political  grandeur ;  a  living  pyramid,  whose 
summit  was  crowned  with  the  throne  of  the  hope  of  Israel, 
invested  with  the  insignia  of  universal  supremacy,  and  at 
'whose  basement  was  stretched  out  in  glorious  perspective 
the  kneeling  and  admiring  homage  of  the  world.  Such 
anticipation,  in  substance,  was  the  creed  of  the  nation.  It 
was  not  peculiar  to  a  visionary  few,  but  was  pourtrayed  in 
vivid  and  permanent  imagery  one  very  mind.  Not  to  be- 
lieve in  its  approach  was  infidelity;  and  not  to  pray  for  it 
was,  to  a  proverb,  not  to  pray  at  all.  The  expectation  of 
it  moulded  their  worship,  imprinted  itself  on  their  lan- 
guage and  on  many  of  their  habits,  and  kept  them  in  a 
perpetual  fever  of  excitement. 

In  the  face  of  this  sorcerous  and  powerful  delusion,  Jesus 
propounded  the  simplicity  of  Messiah's  reign.  He  did 
this,  not  merely  to  dissipate theexisting  error,  but  knowing 
that  the  principle  from  which  it  sprung  is  native  to  the  hu- 
man heart,  and  forseeing  that  the  great  enemy  would  at- 
tempt to  employ  it  against  his  church,  in  every  form 
and  in  every  age,  he  sought  to  render  i'.,  if  not  impossi- 


HIS       SPIRITUALITY.  317 

ble,  at  least  utterly  inexcusable.       His   early  instructions 
were   devoted   supremely,  and   even   solely  to  this  object. 
By  dispatching  his  herald  to  proclaim  repentance  as  the 
only  preparation   for  his  coming  kingdom,  he  essayed  to 
disturb   the  national   dream  and  to  break   up  the   popular 
delusion.     On  coming  to  Jerusalem  he  repaired  to  the  tem- 
ple;   and   by  expelling  the  herd   of  the  worldly  that  pro- 
faned it,  he  practically  taught  that  in  his   church,  where- 
ever  and  whenever  it  might  exist,  names  would  be  nothing   ' 
and  character  every  thing.     Discoursing  with  Nicodemus 
immediately  after,  he  insisted  on  the  regeneration  of  the 
heart  as  indispensable  to  his  kingdom.     Then  followed  his 
discourse  with  the  woman  of  Samaria,    in   which,  as  we 
have  already  seen,  he  left  nothing  to  the  hopes  of  the  secu- 
lar and  carnal,  but  opened  to  the  spiritual  a  prospect  of  un- 
clouded day.     Proceeding  into  Galilee,  he  took  up  the  bur- 
den of  the  Baptist's  preaching,  and  repeated  wherever  he 
came,  '  Repent  ye,  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand. 
Arriving  at  Nazareth,  he  implied  the  spiritual  design  of  his 
mission  by  appropriating  the  prediction   which  described 
the  poor,  the  blind,  the  bruised,  and  broken  hearted,  as  the 
objects  of  his  peculiar  care.     Followed  by  a  large  and  ad- 
miring multitude,  many  of  whom  had  lately  beheld  him 
at  Jerusalem  when  his  miracles  had  divided  attention  with 
the  temple  itself,  and  all  of  whom  were  sanguine  of  his 
patriotic  designs,  he  ascended  a  mount,  marked  the  unholy 
enthusiasm  which  fired  their  hearts,   surveyed   the  phan- 
toms of  national  greatness  which  played  before  their  eyes, 
saw  that  their  ambitious  impatience  was  at  its  height,  and 
opening  his  mouth,  by  the  first  sentence  he  uttered  he 
laid  their  kingdom  in  the  dust;  'Blessed  are  the  poor  in 
Spirit  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven.'      He  corrects 
their  extravagant  views,  not  by  branding  and  denouncing 
them  but  by  pronouncing  his  benediction  on  sentiments   of 


318  THE      GREAT       TEACHER. 

a  very  opposite  description.  He  does  not  require  them  to 
relinquish  their  hopes  of  a  kingdom;  he  promises  a  king- 
dom ;  but  then  the  kingdom  he  proposes  is  spiritual,  a  state 
in  which  their  earthly  passions  will  be  discredited  and  un- 
known, and  qualities  the  very  opposite  prevail  in  which 
spiritual  poverty  would  constitute  the  greatest  wealth. 

Had  he  delivered  no  specific  instructions  concerning  the 
genius  of  his  kingdom,  we  might  have  inferred  its  spiritu- 
ality from  his  conduct  alone.  Had  the  policy  and  pride  of 
man  been  consulted  on  the  means  of  its  erection,  they 
would  have  demanded  that  splendor  should  be  seen  follow- 
ing in  his  train,  and  wealth  pouring  out  his  treasures  at 
his  feet,  and  ambition  realizing  honors  and  titles  at  his 
hands.  They  would  have  said,  '  If  a  new  system  is  to  be 
proclaimed  and  established  in  the  world,  let  the  profoundest 
*  philosophers  of  the  day  be  engaged  to  advocate  its  merits  - 
let  the  princes  and  potentates  of  the  earth  be  induced  to 
patronize  it,  and  take  it  under  their  guardian  care ;  let  poet- 
ry sing  its  praises;  let  eloquence  pour  forth  its  most  effec- 
tive oratory  in  its  behalf;  let  every  spring  of  human  power 
be  touched  and  put  in  motion,  and  the  gospel  may  gradual- 
ly gain  a  footing  in  the  world.'  And  had  it  been  of  earth- 
ly origin  and  character,  such  instrumentality  might  have 
been  wise  and  well.  But  the  spirituality  of  its  nature  dis- 
dained such  alliance.  The  empire  of  Jesus  was  intended 
to  be  the  great  anomaly  of  the  world ;  and  its  Founder 
designed  that  its  distinctive  character  should  be  seen  in  the 
anomalous  means  employed  to  erect  it.  '  My  kingdom,' 
said  he,  'is  not  of  this  world  ;  '  and  forthwith  he  proceed- 
ed to  illustrate  the  truth,  by  laying  its  foundation  in  his  own 
death :  by  erecting  a  cross  for  its  centre  and  glory.  '  My 
kingdom  is  not  of  this  world  ;  it  came  down  complete  from 
heaven,  and  it  conducts  thither  again  ;  it  does  not  contem- 
plate man  specifically  in  his  national,  secular,  or  artificial 


HIS       SPIRITUALITY.  319 

relations,  but  in  his  moral  capacity  as  amenable  to  the  in- 
visible and  supreme  Governor;  and  it  proposes  to  form 
him  into  a  subject,  and  to  acquire  his  allegiance,  by  laws 
and  influences  unknown  to  the  resources  of  earthly  pow- 
ers, and  mysterious  as  the  operation  of  the  wind,  an  agen- 
cy derived  immediately  from  heaven.  It  may  impress 
its  image  on  earthly  governments  with  the  happiest  effect, 
but  cannot  take  from  them  the  slightest  print  without  receiv- 
ing essential  injury;  it  may  leave  the  constitution  of  a  hu- 
man empire  untouched,  while  it  pervades  and  possesses  eve- 
ry member  of  that  state,  and  renders  him  a  new  creature. 
So  spiritual  is  its  nature,  that,  like  its  omnipresent  Founder, 
who  is  always  present  with  his  creatures  in  the  same  place, 
without  destroying  any  of  the  attributes  proper  to  their  na- 
ture, it  is 'capable  of  co-existing  and  co-extending  with  an 
earthly  state,  and  of  preserving  its  own  separate  character, 
without  at  all  interfering  with  the  functions  proper  to  that 
state. 

Unlike  the  dominions  of  the  kings  of  the  earth,  his 
kingdom  knows  nothing  of  territorial  divisions  and  geo- 
graphical bounds.  '  That  \vhich  is  born  of  the  Spirit  is 
spirit,'  and  belongs  to  his  domains:  so  much  of  the  man  as 
is  sanctified,  is  native  to  this  state,  and  no  more;  and  only 
so  much  of  society  as  is  reclaimed  to  holiness  comes  with- 
in its  spiritual  scope  and  verge.  It  is  a  region  of  light ; 
and  to  whatever  point  its  beams  may  reach,  'the  kingdom 
of  God  is  come  nigh  unto  it.  It  is  a  dominion  of  holiness; 
and  he  who  begins  to  exhibit  the  signs  of  repentance,  is 
4  not  far  from  it,'  is  approaching  its  happy  confines.  The 
lengths  and  breadths  of  Immanuel's  land  are  not  capable 
of  being  mapped  ;  it  is  a  region  too  etherial  to  be  subjected 
to  the  lines  of  latitude  and  longitude ;  it  is  too  commen- 
surate with  actual  faith,  and  actual  holiness,  and  knows  no 
limits  but  where  these  terminate. 


320  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

To  be  the  subjects  of  this  kingdom  does  not  depend  on 
fcirth-place  or  human  relationship.  The  great  distinction 
is,  that  they  are  born  from  above  ;  '  Jesus  answered,  Verily, 
verily  I  say  unto  thee,  Except  a  man  be  born  of  water 
and  of  the  Spirit,  he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God. 
That  which  is  born  of  the  flesh,  is  flesh  ;  and  that  which 
is  born  of  the  Spirit,  is  spirit.  Marvel  not  that  1  said 
unto  thee,  ye  must  be  born  again.'  In  their  natural  state 
they  are  flesh  of  flesh;  the  depraved  offspring  of  depraved 
parents.  Their  spiritual  principle — that  which  principal- 
ly distinguished  them  as  men,  and  allied  them  to  God — 
has  become  a  secondary  and  subordinate  part  of  their  na- 
ture. It  ought  to  have  reigned,  but  it  has  resigned  its  au- 
thority, dismissed  its  state,  and  abdicated  its  throne.  It 
has  descended  to  be  a  slave,  where  it  ought  to  have  been 
king.  The  flesh,  which  should  have  been  only  its  chariot 
of  triumph,  leads  it.  instead,  in  degrading  captivity.  In 
this  degraded  state,  it  is  regarded  as  having  forfeited  its 
own  name;  it  is  no  longer  worthy  to  be  called  spirit;  it 
even  submits  to  the  dishonor  of  taking  its  name  from  the 
inferior,  the  fleshly  principle.  Being  immersed  in  the 
flesh,  and  owning  the  flesh  for  its  master,  the  rnind  is  ani- 
malized,  the  very  mind  is  turned  into  flesh,  and  rendered  a 
fleshly  mind  ;  'that  which  is  born  of  the  flesh,  is  flesh.7 

Now  it  is  characteristic  of  all  the  subjects  of  the  gospel 
kingdom,  that  this  unnatural  order  of  things  has  been  re- 
versed, and  their  spirit  restored  to  its  proper  supremacy 
and  power.  Brought  out  of  the  grave  which  enclosed  it, 
and  reseated  on  its  native  throne,  it  learns  to  assert  its  au- 
thority over  the  flesh.  It  is  not  detached  from  the  body; 
but  is  enabled  to  deny  the  flesh,  to  hold  it  in  subjection,  to 
give  it  laws,  and  to  exact  obedience.  It  is  not  exempt 
from  the  influence  of  carnal  propensities;  but  it  struggles 
with  them;  and  herein  consists  its  spirituality.  It  will  no 


HIS      SPIRITUALITY.  321 

longer  submit  to  their  rule  ;  it  will  be  master;  it  will  tri- 
umph over  the  flesh,  and  make  its  new-found  royalty  ap- 
pear .^n  the  prevailing  spirituality.  And  having  thus  re- 
covered its  authority  and  birth-right,  it  now  again  resumes 
its  name — it  is  spirit.  The  subject  of  the  change,  still  tak- 
ing his  name  from  his  ruling  principle,  is  now  denominat- 
ed spiritual,  for  it  is  his  spirit  that  reigns :  *  that  which  is 
born  of  the  Spirit  is  spirit.'  And  of  this  spiritual  charac- 
ter are  all  the  subjects  of  the  Christian  kingdom.  God  has 
no  moral  kingdom  on  earth,  but  what  consists  of  such 
characters  ;  for  as  the  extinction  of  this  spirituality  by  sin, 
was  the  extinction  of  a  kingdom,  so  the  re-production  of 
it  by  the  Divine  Spirit  is  the  setting  up  of  a  new  kingdom  ; 
and  except  a  man  be  born  of  the  Spirit,  he  cannot  be  en- 
rolled among  its  subjects. 

Contrary  to  the  kingdoms  of  the  world,  the  empire  of 
Christ  does  not  find  its  subjects,  but  makes  them.  This  is 
its  specific  and  exalted  object — the  production  and  perfec- 
tion of  spiritual  men.  Having  wandered  from  the  region 
of  holiness,  they  were  accounted  dead  towards  God  ;  des- 
titute of  a  whole  order  of  life  which  originally  belonged 
to  all  their  faculties,  and  was  diffused  through  their  nature, 
constituting  its  beauty  and  perfection.  '  I  am  come,'  said 
Christ,  'that  they  might  have  life,  and  that  they  might 
have  it  more  abundantly.'  Being  drawn  by  an  unseen 
hand  within  the  circle  of  the  spiritual  region,  the  life  they 
had  lost  is  again  infused  ;  and  in  the  exercise  of  its  func- 
tions, they  find  themselves  capable  of  the  duties  of  their 
new  empire,  and  make  proof  of  their  allegiance  to  their 
new  king.  Throwing  off  the  yoke  of  the  flesh,  they  no 
longer  allow  themselves  to  be  the  sport  and  victim  of  what- 
ever sin  might  choose  to  assail  them  ;  but  as  the  Spirit 
hath  put  forth  his  power  to  renew  them,  so  their  spirit  puts 
forth  a  corresponding  power  in  earnest  endeavors  after 
20 


THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

holiness.  Admitted  to  the  presence  of  their  Sovereign 
Lord,  they  take  their  directions  from  his  lips,  acquire  an  ex- 
pansion and  increase  of  the  divine  life,  until  being  changed 
into  the  same  image,  they  are  translated  to  augment  and 
adorn  his  kingdom  above. 

The  enlargement  of  an  earthly  kingdom  is  commonly 
attended  with  'the  confused  noise  of  the  battle  of  the  war- 
rior, and  garments  rolled  in  blood  ; '  its  boundary  lines  are 
drawn  in  blood.  But  the  progress  of  his  empire  is  like 
the  silent  stealing  of  light  on  darkness.  '  If  my  kingdom 
were  of  this  world,'  said  he,  'then  would  my  servants 
fight ;  but  now  is  my  kingdom  not  from  hence.'  The 
only  panoply  he  has  provided  for  its  militant  subjects,  is  an 
armor  of  character  ;  the  weapons  of  their  warfare  are  the 
love  that  attracts, -the  patience  that  endures,  and  the  union 
that  gives  strength.  The  victories  they  achieve  are  all 
bloodless — the  moral  conquest  of  revolted  minds.  And, 
hence,  like  the  silent  fermenting  of  the  hidden  leaven,  or 
the  unobtrusive  growth  of  the  mustard  seed  to  a  tree,  the 
enlargement  of  his  empire  is  'not  with  observation;' 
though  it  is  a  leaven  which  is  to  pervade  and  assimilate 
the  entire  mass  of  humanity,  and  a  tree  which  is  to  fill  the 
Avorld  with  its  fragrance  and  its  fruits. 

The  only  domains  on  which  his  empire  aggresses  are 
those  of  ignorance,  sense,  and  sin  ;  nor  does  it  make  any 
real  accession,  but  as  it  gradually  brings  them  into  subjec- 
tion ;  so  that  to  accept  the  patronage,  or  to  seek  the  alli- 
ance of  the  unrenewed,  is  to  suppose  that  darkness  would 
combine  with  light,  to  introduce  a  subject  of  the  prince  of 
darkness,  and  invest  him  with  authority  in  the  dominions 
of  the  prince  of  light.  The  primary  object  of  human  gov- 
ernments, is  the  protection  of  property,  liberty,  and  life; 
the  design  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  may  consist  with  the 
loss  of  all  these,  and  yet  be  perfectly  answered,  for  the  ene- 
mies and  evils  from  which  it  proposes  to  save,  relate  to  the 


HIS       SPIRITUALITY.  223 

soul  and  eternity.  Its  sovereign  himself  asserted  his  roy- 
alty in  the  presence  of  death,  and  endured  the  cross  as  the 
very  means  of  erecting  his  empire.  Qualities  which 
shine  most  resplendent  in  the  kingdoms  of  the  world,  have 
no  place  in  his;  and,  while  accidents  of  birth  and  fortune 
confer  distinction  in  the  former,  the  latter  is  an  empire  in 
which  men  take  rank  according  to  their  piety  alone  :  *  who- 
soever shall  do  and  teach  the  divine  commands,  the  same 
shall  be  called  great  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven.'  His  is  a 
kingdom  in  which  we  belong  to  the  higher  orders,  or  the 
lower,  according  to  our  character:  in  which  holiness  is 
the  only  true  nobility  ;  in  which  is  wealth,  accomplishment, 
and  rank,  all  in  one  ;  and  the  higher  our  attainments  in 
righteousness,  and  the  larger  our  share  of  his  royal  favor, 
the  more  unequivocally  are  we  treated  as  the  children  of  a 
king.  The  immunities  of  his  'kingdom  afford  no  hope  for 
the  covetous,  no  scope  for  the  proud  and  restless  aspirations 
of  human  ambition;  they  consist  of  self-dominion,  sympa- 
thies with  heaven,  foretastes  of  perfection,  the  imperisha- 
ble affluence  of  the  soul,  'spiritual  blessings  in  heavenly 
places.'  The  laws  of  his  kingdom,  unlike  the  mutable 
and  precarious  enactments  of  men,  are  unalterable ;  being 
founded  in  his  own 'unchangeable  nature,  and  in  the  eter- 
nal constitution  of  man  ;  heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away, 
before  one  of  them  shall  fail.  And  constituting  as  they 
do,  a  divine  and  perfect  code,  they  admit  of  no  amendment, 
accept  of  no  additions  from  human  legislation.  The  voice 
of  human  authority  in  his  empire  is  the  voice  of  treason, 
a  fearful  approximation  to  the  example  of  that  ambitious 
spirit  whose  presumption  procured  his  banishment  from 
heaven.  The  penalties  of  his  kingdom  are  all  spiritual; 
within  the  wide  limits  of  his  peaceful  dominions  he  allows 
no  blood  to  be  seen,  but  that  of  his  own  atoning  sacrifice  ; 
no  sword  to  be  wielded,  but  that  weapon  of  ethereal  temper 


324  THE      GREAT       TEACHER. 

th^  sword  of  the  spirit,  whose  strokes  alight  only  on  the 
conscience,  and  whose  edge  is  anointed  with  a  balm  to 
heal  every  wound  it  may  inflict.  If  one  of  his  professed 
subjects  offend,  the  loyal  and  obedient  are  only  empower- 
ed  to  rebuke  the  offender,  and  to  refuse  him  their  society  5 
and  even  of  the  man  who  withholds  his  allegiance,  he 
declares,  *  1  judge  him  not'  during  the  present  dispensa- 
tion, '  for  I  came  not  to  judge  the  world,  but  to  save  it.' 

The  court  of  an  earthly  state  is  the  rendezvous  of  its 
pomp,  the  focus  of  its  splendor  ;  a  spectacle  which  the 
eyes  of  its  people  never  weary  to  behold  ;  his  court  is  in- 
visible; and  though  becomes  to  give  audience  to  his  peo* 
pie,  and  to  receive  their  petitions,  his  presence  is  unseen, 
the  object  of  their  faith.  Under  the  dominion  of  earthly 
princes,  a  graduated  scale  is  applied  to  society,  dividing  it 
into  ranks,  and  assigning  to  each  its  appropriate  elevation 
and  distinction :  under  the  administration  of  the  gospel 
kingdom,  said  Christ,  it  '  shall  not  be  so ;  but  he  that  is 
greatest  among  you,  let  him  be  as  the  younger,  and  he  that 
is  chief  as  he  that  doth  serve.'  'For  one  is  your  master 
even  Christ^  and  all  ye  are  brethren.'  Under  the  former, 
society  is  a  cone,  the  high  places  of  which  are  occupied  by 
those  who,  in  proportion  to  their  elevation,  speak  with  au- 
thority to  the  circles  below  them :  under  the  latter,  society 
is  a  plane,  on  which  all  artificial  distinctions  are  levelled 
and  lost.  The  rich  descending  from  their  elevated  station 
the  poor  emerging  from  their  obscure  retreats,  and  both  de- 
positing their  respective  badges,  they  are  enrolled  in  his 
kingdom  by  one  common  appellation,  enter  his  presence, 
and  encircle  his  throne,  on  the  same  low  basement. 
Whatever  their  distinctions  as  the  subjects  of  earthly 
princes,  as  the  subjects  of  his  empire,  their  wants,  and  ob- 
ligations, and  destiny  exactly  coincide,  and  place  them  on 


HIS       SPIRITUALITY.  325 

a  perfect  equality :  while  the  only  scope  they  have  for  em- 
ulation is  in  a  contest  of  humility,  devotedness,  and  love,  a 
race  of  holiness;  and  to  the  splendor  of  holiness,  being  an 
order  of  splendor  by  itself,  no  earthly  distinction  can  add 
a  ray  of  lustre. 

And,  to  conclude  this  prolonged  particular,  I  will  only 
remark,  that,  while  the  subjects  of  human  governments 
are  mortal,  and,  on  laying  down  their  bodies,  cease  from, 
the  dominion  of  earthly  power,  the  subjects  of  Messiah's 
kingdom,  as  such,  are  immortal;  their  departure  from 
earth,  being  only  a  removal  to  a  higher  department  of  his 
empire,  where  their  allegiance  is  undivided,  and  rendered 
to  him  alone,  and  where  their  spiritual  relations  to  him 
are  all  verified  and  tomplete  ;  'Where  I  am,'  saiih  he, 
*thereshall  also  my  servants  be.'  *  I  appoint  unto  you  aking- 
dom.'  And  while,  not  only  the  subjects  of  earthly  states, 
but  the  kingdoms  themselves,  dissolve  and  disappear,  his 
spiritual  empire  shall  rise  on  the  ruins  of  them  all:  hav- 
ing combined  with  none  of  their  p  ishable  elements,  it 
shall  know  no  change,  but  that  of  a  perpetual  advance 
from  glory  to  glory;  and  the  moment  which  shall  behold 
the  dissolution  of  the  great  globe  itself,  shall  behold  his 
kingdom  crowned  with  perfection,  and  completed  for  eter- 
nity. 

Let  the  spirituality  of  the  Saviour's  teaching,  on  the 
great  subjects  which  have  passed  under  consideration,  re- 
mind us  of  our  proneness  and  danger  to  repose  in  a  form 
of  piety  to  the  neglect  of  spiritual  and  evangelical  holiness. 
Created  under  a  law  which  promised  us  life  on  the  condi- 
tion of  our  perfect  obedience,  we  still  retain  a  propensity 
to  claim  the  reward,  though  morally  unable  to  perform  the 
condition.  To  evade  the  conviction  of  this  inability,  and 
to  maintain  unimpaired  our  pretensions  to  heaven,  we 
fondly  substitute  an  obedience  of  forms  for  the  homage  and 


326  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

piety  of  the  heart.  Besides,  owing  to  the  ascendency 
which  our  senses  have  gained  over  our  minds,  it  is  so 
much  more  easy  and  gratifying  to  be  able  to  see  and  re- 
count our  religious  doings,  than  to  attend  to  the  secret  du- 
ties of  the  heart,  that  we  would  fain  lose  sight  of  the  spirit- 
ual nature  of  religion,  in  an  engrossing  attention  to  its  out- 
ward forms. 

On  these  accounts  it  is  that  a  system  of  superstition, 
however  torturing  the  rites  it  may  inflict  on  its  votaries,  is 
able  to  boast  a  more  imposing  array  of  devotees,  than  the 
spiritual  religion  of  the  gospel  of  Christ.  It  is  so  much 
more  easy  to  endure  bodily  torture,  than  to  bend  the  will 
and  impose  mental  discipline  ;  there  is  so  much  in  the  idea 
of  personal  merit  to  sustain  the  endurance  of  physical  suf- 
fering, and  so  much  food  for  complacency  afterwards  in  the 
review,  that  Christianity  has  only  to  proclaim  its  acceptance 
of  tortures  and  penances  in  the  stead  of  spi  itual  efforts, 
in  order  to  enrol  among  its  followers  mul.i.udes  who  now 
stand  aloof  in  aversion  and  despair. 

Owing  to  the  operation  of  the  same  principles  it  was 
that  the  higher  and  ultimate  designs  of  the  Jewish  econo- 
my became  neutralized  and  lost.  Burdened  as  that  dis- 
pensation was  with  cerimonial  observances,  it  was  yet 
highly  significant  of  all  tha  is  spiritual  and  essential  in 
the  present  economy.  But  the  Jews,  while  they  scrupu- 
lously honored  the  signs,  rt.  irely  lost  sight  of  the  thing 
signified.  They  paid  tithes  of  anise,  mint,  and  cummin  ; 
they  offered  their  animal  sacrifices  ;  they  were  even  wil- 
ling to  multiply  their  ritual  observances  a  hundred-fold  pro- 
vided, that  by  doing  so,  they  might  be  spared  the  irksome 
task  of  reflecting,  of  sustaining  a  mental  effort  which 
should  enable  them  to  'look  to  the  end  of  that  \vl  ich  was 
to  be  abolished  ; '  this  was  a  duty  so  much  more  difficult 
than  to  discharge  a  routine  of  outward  ceremonies,  that 


HIS       SPIRITUALITY.  327 

they  utterly  dismissed  it.  In  their  carnal  hands,  the  trans- 
parent type  became  opaque  and  useless,  their  speaking  and 
instructive  service  became  an  unmeaning  enigma,  a  dumb 
and  tiresome  show  ;  and  even  the  glorious  temple  itself, 
meant  to  be  the  shrine  and  sanctuary  of  living  piety,  be- 
came its  sepulchre  ;  the  mighty  mausoleum  of  a  departed 
religion,  in  which  all  that  remained  to  interest,  was  the 
constant  celebration  of  its  funeral  rites. 

Judea,  having  proved  the  grave  of  religion,  became  also 
the  scene  of  its  resurrection  to  a  loftier  order  of  life,  and 
clothed-in  a  more  spiritual  body.  Christianity,  as  com- 
pared with  religion  in  its  Jewish  state,  is  corruption  cloth- 
ed in  incorruption.'  And  now,  we  might  have  supposed, 
religion  is  safe  from  its  former  fate  ;  its  spirituality  will 
now  form  its  protection  ;  and,  in  addition,  it  will  be  guard- 
ed by  the  jealousy  of  devout  admiration;  but,  instead  of 
this,  the  very  first  danger  to  which  it  was  exposed  was  that 
of  being  divested  of  its  distinctive  character,  and  of  being 
reduced  to  an  affair  of  forms  and  ceremonies.  Many  of 
its  primitive  disciples  had  been  born  in  the  shadow  of  the 
holy  place;  had  inhaled  the  incense  of  the  altar  with  their 
earliest  breath  ;  and  had  daily  walked  amidst  the  solemn 
and  gorgeous  magnificence  of  an  economy  modelled  after 
the  pattern  of  heavenly  things,  and  adorned  by  the  hand  of 
Deity  himself.  Proud  to  be  allied  to  such  a  church,  they 
had  derived  their  distinctive  name  from  its  initiatory  rite, 
and  gloried  to  be  denominated  *  the  circumcision.'  The 
loftiest  conceptions  of  excellence  and  distinction,  of  per- 
sonal security  and  future  enjoyment,  had  long  been  identi- 
fied in  their  minds  with  *  the  circumcision.'  And  hence, 
though  the  superior  character  of  the  Christian  economy 
had  long  since  carried  their  convictions,  and  won  their  es- 
teem, yet  true  to  their  early  prepossessions,  they  essayed 
to  insert  it  as  a  graft  into  the  Jewish  stock,  as  the  infallible 


328  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

means  of  enhancing  the  value  of  its  fruits.  So  far  from 
entertaining  the  idea,  that  the  Christian  institute  was  design- 
ed to  supplant  the  Mosaic,  they  insisted  that  its  saving  effi- 
cacy depended  entirely  on  its  being  incorporated  with  it: 
that  whatever  good  of  a  subordinate  kind  it  might  impart 
toothers,  its  ultimate  blessings  would  only  accrue  to  'the 
circumcision.'  And  accordingly  the  apostles  had  early  to 
interpose  their  authority,  individually  and  collectively,  in 
order  to  save  the  new  dispensation  from  being  overlaid  and 
destroyed  by  a  favorite  and  corrupted  ritual. 

The  propensity  in  question  however  is  by  no  means  pe- 
culiar to  the  Jews,  whether  regarded  as  professors  of  Ju- 
daism or  of  Christianity;  it  is  one  to  which  our  common 
nature  is  prone.  What  is  it  thatpasses  throughout  Chris- 
tendom generally  for  the  religion  of  Christ?  what  but  an 
elaborate  accumulation  of  penances  and  mortifications,  of 
splendid  sights  and  melodious  sounds,  of  fasts  and  festivals, 
a  constantly  recurring  round  of  outward  observances  ?  As 
though  conscious  of  its  want  of  a  spiritual  life,  they  have 
vainly  attempted  to  find  compensation  in  a  constant  multi- 
plication of  heartless  ceremonies  :  as  if  aware  that  they  had 
no  more  of  religion  than  the  lifeless  form,  they  have  en- 
deavored to  conceal  its  death-like  features  by  overlaying  it 
with  a  profusion  of  costly  decorations. 

Nor  "does  this  propensity  confine  its  pernicious  opera- 
tions to  the  sphere  of  our  duties  alone — of  what  we  have 
to  do  ;  but  invading  the  region  of  Christian  expectation  and 
privilege,  how  generally  has  it  debased  the  notions  of  men 
concerning  the  nature  of  that  salvation  which  God  propos- 
es to  accomplish  for  them.  By  salvation, they  understand 
a  mere  outward  deliverance — the  bestowment  of  pardon 
alone — without  remembering  that  to  be  pardoned,  in  the 
scriptural  sense,  is  at  the  same  time  to  be  renewed  in  the 
spirit  of  their  mind ;  in  the  very  soul  of  their  soul.  They 


HIS       SPIRITUALITY.  329 

profess  to  be  infinitely  indebted  to  Christ,  supposing  him  to 
have  accomplished  every  thing  for  them  in  such  a  sense, 
that  now  they  have  only  to  give  their  consent,  in  order  to 
be  taken  to  heaven;  not  remembering  that,  before  he  can 
be  said  to  have  done  any  thing  for  them  personally,  he  must 
actually  commence  a  renovating  process  with  them.  They 
estimate  their  deliverance  from  hell,  as  from  a  place  of  out- 
ward torment  ;  forgetting  that  sin  has  created  a  hell  with- 
in them  ;  that  an  angry  and  polluted  conscience  is  a  worm 
which  dieth  not :  that  unsubdued  propensities  to  sin  are 
fires  which,  'if  now  left  unquenched,  will  continue  to  burn 
on  for  ever ;  that  dying  in  habits  of  vice  we  shall  take  them 
with  us  as  chains  of  our  own  forging  and  imposing,  and 
wear  them  for  ever  ;  and  that  unless  they  are  delivered  from 
these  evils  now  by  the  renewing  agency  of  the  Divine 
Spirit,  heaven  itself,  were  they  permited  to  enter  it,  would 
be  no  scene  of  joy  to  them,  since  every  thing  there  would 
be  at  variance  with  their  taste,  and  painfully  opposed  to 
their  character.  And  in  the  same  way  they  are  accustom- 
ed to  anticipate  heaven  as  a  spectacle  of  splendor,  and  the 
scene  of  every  refined  pleasure  which  can  charm  the 
senses;  as  the  elysium  in  which  they  are  to  find  happiness 
prepared  and  awaiting  their  arrival,  whatever  the  state  in 
which  they  may  reach  it.  They  entirely  lose  sight  of  the 
fact,  that  their  present  character  is  creating  their  future 
destiny;  that  their  principles  and  actions,  preceding  their 
own  departure,  have  already  arrived  in  eternity,  and  are 
there  preparing  for  them  a  place  of  reception.  They  for- 
get, that  on  departing  from  earth,  that  which  goes  to  be  ex- 
amined at  the  bar  of  God,  is  the  unclothed  soul,  the  naked 
human  character,  and  that  the  inevitable  test  to  which  it  is 
there  subjected  is,  whether  or  not  it  has  been  formed  and 
sanctified  by  the  Spirit  of  God.  They  are  blind  to  the  im- 
portant truth,  that  the  happiness  of  heaven  will  principally 


330  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

result  from  holiness  and  conformity  to  God :  that  so  far, 
heaven  commences  with  the  Christian  on  earth  ;  and  that, 
when  he  leaves  the  world,  he  takes  the  elements  of  heav- 
enly happiness  with  him  ;  so  that  it  is  only  by  becoming 
a  subject  of  the  kingdom  of  holiness,  now,  that  he  can  enter 
into  the  kingdom  of  happiness  hereafter. 

The  principle  which  leads  men  to  substitute  external 
things  for  the  religion  of  Christ,  is  of  universal  operation  : 
we  have  seen  that  it  has  entered  each  dispensation,  and  ap- 
peared in  every  age  of  the  church,  obscuring  the  glory, 
and  corroding  the  very  vitals  of  piety.  In  the  war  it  has 
waged  with  the  spirituality  of  religion,  it  has  succeeded  in 
materializing-  and  debasing  it  to  a  degree  which  has  left 
nothing  for  the  most  secular  and  devoted  worldling  to  hope 
or  desire.  It  has  so  consulted  his  tastes  and  provided  for 
his  wishes,  that  he  can  easily  serve  both  God  and  mam- 
mon; an  achievement  which  was  once  pronounced  imprac- 
ticable ;  for  while  it  leaves  the  heart  at  liberty  for  the  re- 
ception of  any  guests,  it  provides  that  religion  shall  be  sat- 
isfied with  the  attentions  of  form.  It  has  subverted  the 
whole  constitution  of  Messiah's  kingdom  ;  for  while  it  has 
dethroned  him  from  his  seat  in  the  heart;  and  has  turned 
his  laws  into  prescriptions  of  empty  forms;  and  the  hom- 
age which  is  paid  him,  into  an  affair  of  heartless  ceremo- 
ny, of  feudal  custom  ;  it  has  left  him  to  sway  an  impotent 
sceptre  over  a  kingdom  of  mere  nominal  subjects.  By 
anticipation,  it  has  even  carried  its  deteriorating  influence 
into  the  regions  of  futurity,  invaded  the  upper  province  of 
his  dominions,  materializing  the  happiness  of  heaven  itself. 
Oh,  what  would  that  kingdom,  of  which  Christ  is  the  au- 
thor and  glory,  have  become,  had  it  been  left  to  be  moulded 
by  the  hands  of  man  !  It  would  have  been  made  to  consist 
'  of  meats  and  drinks;'  an  assemblage  of  outward  observ- 
ances, and  those  of  the  most  trivial  description  ;  whereas 


HIS       SPIRITUALITY.  331 

it  is  composed  of  *  righteousness  and  peace,  and  joy  in  the 
Holy  Ghost.' 

Thus  man  debases  whatever  he  touches;  even  the  spir- 
ituality of  the  gospel  could  not  escape  the  contamination. 
But  from  this  humbling  survey  of  the  treatment  which 
Christianity  has  received  at  his  hands,  let  me  advert,  in 
conclusion,  to  the  divine  simplicity  of  the  character  which 
it  is  intended  to  form  ;  and  advert  to  it  with  a  view  to  en- 
force its  necessity. 

The  great  gift  of  the  new  dispensation,  the  promise  most 
frequently  on  the  lips  of  Christ,  and  which  he  evidently 
gloried  to  repeat,  is  the  promise  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  The 
fulfillment  of  this  promise,  which  is  alike  essential  to  the 
first  and  the  last  step  of  the  Christian  life,  infallibly  trans- 
form its  recipients  into  spiritual  worshippers.  They  speak 
to  God  through  no  indirect  or  doubtful  medium;  they  ap- 
proach him  by  no  lengthened  process  of  preliminary  forms  J 
through  the  new  and  living  way,  it  is  their  privilege  to 
advan  eto  his  footstool  personally  and  at  once.  They  ad- 
dress him  with  their  own  lips,  and  believe  that  he  is  listen- 
ing to  every  word  they  utter.  They  bare  their  hearts  to 
his  inspection,  and  entreat  him  to  penetrate  and  pervade 
them  with  his  grace.  Conscience,  faithful  to  its  trust,  pre- 
sents the  record  of  its  secrets  to  his  eye  ;  and,  in  the  sove- 
reign smile  which  approves  its  fidelity,  feels  re-confirmed 
in  its  office,  and  swears  allegiance  anew.  Their  thoughts 
are  busy  with  the  scheme  of  redemption  ;  and  as  \voi  der 
after  wonder  rises  on  their  view,  they  find  themselves  at- 
tracted nearer  and  nearer  to  the  object  of  their  worship. 
Their  affections,  expanding  to  admit  his  presence,  invite 
him  to  enter  and  ascend  the  throne.  Every  part  of  their 
spiritual  nature  is  employed  ;  going  forth  towards  him  in 
appropriate  acts  and  emotions,  or  passively  waiting  to  own 
the  first  and  gentlest  impules  of  his  hand.  Hypocrisy  is  a 


332  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

mask  which  they  wear  not  before  men ;  before  God,  be- 
sides its  inefficiency,  of  which  they  are  perfectly  aware,  it 
would  defeat  the  purpose  dearest  to  their  hearts.  They 
would  have  every  word  they  utter  in  the  ear  of  God,  issue 
as  from  the  centre  of  their  being.  Whatever,  while  in  his 
presence,  diverts  their  thoughts,  or  induces  them  to  express 
an  unfelt  desire,  incurs  their  displeasure,  and  excites  their 
regret.  Not  to  hold  fellowship  with  him,  not  to  feel  that 
their  spiritual  nature  has  come  in  contact  with  his,  is  to  ex- 
perience a  disappointment  for  which  no  external  rites,  how- 
ever numerous,  splendid,  or  venerable,  can  compensate;  a 
disappointment  like  that  which  we  may  suppose  the  high 
priest  would  have  felt,  had  he  passed  into  the  holiest  of  all 
and  found  the  glory  departed,  the  ark,  the  mercy-seat,  and 
the  cherubim  gone. 

'The  Father  seeketh-isuch  to  worship  him.'  He  has 
sought  them  under  every  dispensation  of  religion  ;  but,  un- 
der the  present  economy,  he  has  a  right  to  expect  that  his 
search  will  be  peculiarly  successful.  The  declaration,  in- 
deed, denotes  their  comparative  rareness  ;  and  reminds  us 
of  the  value  which  God  sets  on  them.  The  formal  and 
insincere  universally  abound  ;  but  such  he  disregards;  they 
are  an  abomination  in  his  sight.  But  wherever  a  spiritual 
worshipper  is  to  be  found,  there  is  an  object  which  attracts 
the  divine  regard.  He  entertains  the  lofty  design  of  trans- 
lating all  his  spiritual  worshippers  to  thetemp'e  •<  bove. 

Finally,  let  those  of  my  readers  who  belong  to  the  dis- 
ciples of  Jesus,  be  ambitious  to  exemplify  the  spiritual  na- 
ture and  dignity  of  their  Christian  vocation.  Delivered  from 
the  shadows  and  ceremonies  of  the  law,  you  are  placed 
in  a  situation  pre-eminently  favorable  to  increased  spiritual- 
ity of  mind.  Disciples  of  a  school  in  which  all  human 
authority  is  abjured;  in  which  every  lesson  that  is  taught 
is  'spirit  and  life;'  and  in  which  no  limits  are  placed  to 


HIS       SPIRITUALITY.  333 

the  discoveries  made  by  the  Great  Teacher,  you  are  expec- 
ted to  build  up  a  character   eminent  for  the  distinctness  of 
its   heavenly  features,  to   become    proficients  in  the  art  of 
spiritual-mindedness.     Yours  is  not  merely  the  character 
of  the  ancient  believer,  changed  in  nothing  but  in  name*, 
it  is   the  elements    of  which   that    character  is    composed, 
brought  from  the  dimness    and  distance  of  a  twilight  dis- 
pensation into  the  radiance  of  the  divine  presence,  baptized 
with  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  sustained  with  a  purer,  aliment, 
and  thus  developed,  expanded  and  matured.     Looking  at 
the  superiority  of  your  spiritual    knowledge,  the  freedom 
of  your  access  to  Gjod,  and  the  fullness  of  heavenly  influ- 
ence  put  within  your  reach,  the  gospel  may  be  said  to  have 
placed  you  midway  between  the  Jewish  economy  and  the 
celestial  state.     Or,  as  if   it  had    placed  you  in  effect  even 
nearer  than  this  to  the  privileges  of  heaven,  you  are  repre- 
sented as  having  come  to  rrount  Zion,  and  unto  the  city  of 
the  living  God,  the  heavenly  Jerusalem.     Raised  into  this 
ethereal  region,  your   views  are  not  to  be  bounded  by  the 
sensible    horizon    of  time ;  urge  and   erect  your  souls  to 
take  a  larger    survey  5    expatiate  over  the  ample  fields  of 
revelation ;  let  your  eyes  range  from   everlasting   to  ever- 
lasting ;  you  will  thus  become  conversant  with  objects  in 
whose  radiance  this  world  will  stand  eclipsed*  and  famil- 
iar  with  scenes  and  plans  compared  with  which  all  earth 
is  only  a  point,  all  time  a  moment,  all  human  knowledge  an 
imperfect  idea. 

If  the  mind  takes  its  character  from  the  objects  which  it 
most  contemplates,  then  yours  should  be  a  transcript  of  all 
that  is  great,  and  pure  and  spiritual.  You  are  born  spirit 
of  Spirit:  you  have  the  mind  of  Christ;  he  takes  you  in- 
to daily  and  familiar  converse  with  himself  on  the  subject 
of  eternal  purposes  and  infinite  grace,  that  he  may  so  trans- 
fer to  you  his  own  likeness,  and  send  you  forth  into  the 


334  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

world  as  his  spiritnal  representatives.  Your  spirituality 
is,  in  his  eyes,  your  only  glory;  it  is  the  only  mark  by 
which  he  distinguishes  you  from  the  world,  the  only  part 
of  your  nature  which  he  owns  as  his  offspring  ;  you  can- 
not therefore  open  your  souls  to  the  ingress  of  the  world, 
or  leave  them  unfortified  against  its  influence,  without  con- 
senting to  lose  your  great  distinction,  and  being  guilty  of 
treason  against  the  King  of  souls. 

In  effacing  from  your  minds  the  image  of  the  earthly,  his 
design  is  to  impress  on  them  the  image  of  the  heavenly ; 
that  you  may  show  forth  his  likeness  and  circulate  his 
praise  in  the  world.  If  he  admits  you  to  stand  in  the  light 
of  his  presence,  it  is  not  that  you  may  absorb  and  conceal 
it;  but  that,  as  prepared  mediums,  you  may  transmit  the 
glory  of  his  thorne  to  others.  He  has  made  you  the  sub- 
jects of  a  kingdom  which  disdains  the  boundaries  of  time 
and  place,  that  your  benevolence  may  know  no  limits.  In 
approaching  his  altar  as  his  royal  priesthood,  you  are  to 
speak  as  intercessors  for  the  race  ;  in  offering  thanksgiving, 
you  are  to  be  the  organ  and  voice  of  the  gratitude  due  to 
him  from  the  world.  And  having  enrolled  yourselves  as 
his  subjects  and  servants,  you  are  to  apply  your  hand  to 
the  vast  machinery  of  his  providence,  and  to  mingle  with 
the  operations  of  his  almightly  love,  in  restoring  to  harmo- 
ny the  disorders  of  the  universe.  He  has  given  to  you 
his  own  Spirit,  that  even  here  you  may  become  naturalized 
to  a  spiritual  element,  and  be  changed  into  it:  ^and  that 
when  you  are  called  to  join  the  great  community  of  spirits, 
where  the  body  itself  is  to  be  sublimated  into  spirit,  you 
may  not  be  found  wanting  in  any  heavenly  function,  but 
may  enter  on  it  as  on  the  enjoyment  of  your  native  state. 


E  S  S  A  Y  I  V. 

ON  THE  TENDERNESS  AND  BENEVOLENCE  OF  OUR 
LORD'S, TEACHING. 


•  Learn  of  me ;  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  in  heart :  and  ye  shall  find  rest  unto 

your  souls.' 

'And  all  bare  him  witness,  and  wcndered  at  the  gracious  words  which  proceeded 
out  of  his  mouth.' 


IN  perusing  the  writings  of  many  a  moral  instructor,  the 
only  abatement  from  our  edification  arises  from  the  unwel- 
come recollection  of  his  character.  His  statements  of 
truth  are  forcible,  his  illustrations  clear,  his  appeals  af- 
fecting;  but  the  remembrance  of  the  contardiction  which 
existed  between  his  doctrine  and  life  returns,  the  spell  by 
which  he  held  us  is  dissolved,  a  shadow  falls  on  the  page, 
and  his  most  arrowy  appeals  drop  pointless  and  short  of 
our  hearts.  But  in  listening  to  the  instructions  of  our 
blessed  Lord,  the  recollection  of  his  character  is  not  mere- 
ly welcome,  in  order  to  do  them  justice,  it  is  essential. 
There  have  been  others,  indeed,  who  have  owed  the  suc- 
cess of  their  teaching  partly  t3  their  moral  excellencies; 
but  such  is  the  excellence  of  his  character,  that,  could  we 
only  bring  to  the  perusal  of  his  instructions  a  vivid  con- 
ception of  it,  we  should  no  longer  have  to  deplore  their  in- 
efficacy  ;  could  we  only  come  unto  them  under  the  full  in- 
fluerice  of  that  idea  nothing  could  long  resist  their  power: 
as  often  as  we  returned  to  them,  they  would  receive  so 
strong  a  reinforcement  of  impression  from  that  association, 
that  they  could  not  fail  to  pass  farther  and  farther  into  the 
mind,  making  for  themselves  a  home  in  the  heart,  chang- 
ing the  soul  into  their  own  form  and  quality  and  thus  ver- 


336  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

ifying  his   own  description  of  them  that  'they  are  spirit, 
and  they  are  life.' 

His  original  hearers,  be  it  remembered,  enjoyed  this  ad- 
vantage ;  whether  or  not  they  availed  themselves  of  it  is 
a  distinct  consideration;  they  often  enjoyed  the  privilege 
of  beholding  his  miracles  of  mercy :  and,  instantly  on 
the  same  spot,  they  listened  to  the  gracious  words  which 
proceeded  out  of  his  mouth  ;  while  yet  they  were  under 
the  arrest  of  some  new  display  of  majesty,  his  doctrine 
dropped  as  the  rain,  his  speech  distilled  as  the  dew.  It 
will  riot  be  irrelevant  then,  if,  to  place  ourselves  as  nearly  as 
possible  in  their  position,  we  briefly  advert  to  the  excellen- 
cies of  our  Lord's  character  ;  especially  to  those  which  re- 
late to  the  particular  qualities  of  his  teaching,  now  under 
consideration.  We  shall  then  point  out  some  of  his  corres- 
ponding characteristics  as  a  teacher  ;  and,  finally,  present 
examples  from  his  teaching  illustrative  of  his  tenderness, 
benignity  and  compassion. 

I.  In  attempting  to  pourtray  the  moral  perfection  of 
Christ,  we  feel  that  wg  are  contemplating  one  who  is  fair- 
er than  the  children  of  men ;  standing  in  the  presence 
of  Him  who  is  altogether  lovely.  O  for  the  pen  of  th'at  dis- 
ciple whom  Jesus  loved  ;  who  selected  his  Lord's  humility 
and  love  as  things  most  congenial  with  his  own  taste  ;  and 
leant  on  his  sacred  bosom  till  he  became  imbued  with  the 
heavenly  love  which  dwelt  there !  O  for  the  aid  of  the  Ho- 
ly Spirit,  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  to  unveil  his  excellencies  to 
our  view;  that,  while  we  are  beholding,  we  maybe  chang- 
ed into  the  same  image;  may  have  our  taste  purified  and 
exalted  into  sympathy  with  his  transcendant  character  ! 
Of  the  early  history  of  Christ,  indeed,  we  have  but  two  or 
three  slight  incidental  notices  ;  but  who  can  read  even 
these  notices,  slender  as  they  are,  in  the  light  of  his  after" 


HIS    TENDERNESS    AND    BENEVOLENCE.  337 

life,  without  finding  in  them  a  warrant  for  the  imagination 
to  indulge  itself  with  a  picture  of  his  early  perfection.  If 
his  youth  and  his  early  manhood  corresponded  with  his 
subsequent  life,  how  cloadless  and  blessed  must  have  been 
ihe  morning  of  such  a  day,  and  how  happy  they  who  stood 
in  its  light.  Unlike  the  virtues  of  ordinary  humanity, 
which  are  grafted,  and  stunted,  and  hardly  preserved  with 
incessant  care,  his  nature  contained  in  itself  the  seeds  of 
all  worth,  and  every  seed  became  a  fruit ;  every  hour  be- 
held him  put  forth  some  additional  bud  of  promise.  Like 
the  earth  when  first  it  was  sown  by  the  hand  of  God,  and 
held  in  its  bosom  the  germs  of  a  universal  paradise,  his 
nature  brought  with  it  aJ  the  elements  of  excellence. 
Goodness  rejoiced  in  it  as  in  its  native  soil.  His  life  was 
as  the  garden  of  the  Lord  ;  for  there  grew  in  it  every 
thing  pleasant  to  the  sight  and  good  for  food  :  obedience, 
which  ran  at  the  first  call  of  duty  ;  prudence  rendering  the 
present  subservient  to  the  future  ;  sensibility,  responding 
to  the  softest  tones  of  nature,  and  the  clear  transparency  of 
truth:  and  native  courtesy  and  love,  that  clasped  every 
thing  lovely  to  its  soul,  and  became  one  with  it.  What 
wonder  was  it  that,  thus  adorned  and  distinguished,  he- 
should  have  '  increased  in  favor  with  God  arid  man,'  have 
become  the  favorite  of  heaven  and  earth.  Had  the  first 
probation  been  to  be  made  again,  one  individual  tried  as 
the  representative  of  all  the  race,  and  heaven  proposed  as 
the  prize  of  success,  who  would  not  have  thought  of  him? 
all  eyes  \vould  have  involuntarily  turned  to  him,  all  hearts 
would  have  confided  the  great  probation  to  his  hands,  and 
have  looked  on  heaven  as  secure. 

Emerging,  at  length,  from  the  obscurity  of  his  early  life, 

*  he   came  to  Nazareth,   where  he  had  been  brought  up : 

and,  as  his  custom  was,  he  went  into  the  synagogue  on  the 

sabbath-day,  and  stood  up  for  to  read.     And  there  was  de- 

21 


THE      GREAT       TEACHER. 

livered  unto  him  the  hook  of  the  prophet  Isaiah.  And, 
when  he  had  opened  the  book,  he  found  the  place  where  it 
is  written,  '  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  me,  because  he 
hath  anointed  rne  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  poor ;  he  hath 
sent  me  to  heal  the  broken-hearted,  to  preach  deliverance 
to  the  captive,  and  recovering  of  sight  to  the  blind,  to  set  at 
liberty  them  that  are  bruised  to  preach  the  acceptable  year 
of  the  Lord.  And  he  closed  the  book,  and  he  gave  it 
again  to  the  minister  and  sat  down.  And  the  eyes  of  all 
them  that  were  in  the  synagogue  were  fastened  on  him. 
And  he  began  to  say  unto  them,  This  day  is  this  scripture 
fulfilled  in  your  ears.'  Such,  then,  in  his  own  estimation 
was  the  nature  of  his  divine  commission  ;  and  he  fulfilled  it. 
His  whole  life  was  a  comment  on  this  text. 

If  our  subject  permitted,  we  should  love  to  linger  on 
the  purity  of  his  character ;  for  this,  though  by  no  means 
the  most  attractive  feature  to  a  sinful  race,  is  one  of  the 
most  remarkable.  And  here  be  it  observed,  he  sought  not 
to  preserve  his  holiness  unspotted,  by  avoiding  contact  with 
the  world;  he  was  not  indebted  for  his  purity  to  the  priva- 
cy of  a  recluse.  From  the  moment  he  became  a  public 
character,  his  field  was  the  world  ;  he  domesticated  him- 
self, if  I  may  say  so,  and  desired  to  be  numbered  as  one 
of  the  human  family  ;  he  sought  to  become  the  heart  of 
the  world  ;  and  in  the  prosecution  of  that  object,  he  turned 
not  aside  from  a  personal  encounter  with  the  Tempter  him- 
self. From  every  thing  which  the  world  contained  of 
great  and  good,  his  nature  selected  and  drew  to  itself 
aliment  and  life,  while  it  rejected  all  the  pernicious  in- 
gredients with  which  the  purest  elements  on  earth  are 
defiled. 

He  passed  through  a  scene  in  which,  at  every  step  he 
took,  a  thousand  malignant  influences  were  waiting  to  dart 
on  him,  *  Yet  he  did  no  sin,  neither  was  guile  found  in  his 


HIS    TENDERNESS    AND    BENEVOLENCE.  339 

mouth.  He  uttered  not  a  single  sentence  capable  of  be- 
ing* construed  into  a  confession  of  guilt,  or  a  consciousness 
of  defilement.  He  often  alluded  to  his  poverty,  rejection, 
and  sufferings;  and  oftener  still  to  the  subject  of  sin,  in  a 
variety  of  forms  ;  but  he  breathed  not  a  word  which  could 
be  construed  into  an  intimation  that  he  considered  himself 
less  than  a  being  of  unsullied  purity.  On  the  contrary,  he 
challenged  his  enemies  (and  he  had  but  few  friends)  to  con- 
vict him  of  a  single  sin.  The  prince  of  this  world  came, 
and  found  nothing  in  him ;  no  single  thought  or  feeling 
which  responded  to  temptation,  or  disposed  him  for  a  mo- 
ment to  yield  to  it.  He  lived  for  years,  and  was  actively 
employed  in  a  world  in  which  every  condition  has  its  pe- 
culiar temptations,  so  that  of  all  the  myriads  who  have 
ever  inhabited  it,  not  one  has  escaped  the  polution  of  sin. 
But,  like  the  sunbeam,  which  remains  uncontaminated 
whatever  the  object  on  \vhich  it  may  shine,  the  Saviour 
emerged  from  this  region  of  guilt,  and  re-entered  the  por- 
tals of  heaven,  as  pure  and  unspotted  as  when  he  left  the 
bosom  of  the  Father.  It  was  strictly  true  of  him  to  the 
latest  moment  of  his  continuance  on  earth  ;  with  perfect 
sincerity  it  might  have  been  inscribed  on  his  tomb ;  it 
might  have  been  shouted  with  triumph  as  he  ascended  to 
the  throne  of  heaven,  '  he  was  in  all  points  tempted  like  as 
we  are,  yet  without  sin.7 

Besides  his  purity,  we  might  specify,  not  merely  his  su- 
periority to  the  age  in  which  he  lived,  but  the  absolute  con- 
trariety of  his  character  to  all  existing  and  surrounding 
influences ;  the  universality  of  his  plans,  which  distinguish- 
ed and  left  him  alone  in  the  earth  :  the  reconciliation  and 
union  in  his  character  of  opposite  excellencies,  and  which 
formed  its  perfection  and  finish.  But  that  which  sheds  a 
prevailing  hue  over  the  whole  character  of  Christ,  and 
forms  its  principal  feature,  is  unquestionably,  benevolence, 


340  THE       GREAT       TEACHER, 

It  is  that  transcendental  attribute,  which  ran  through  all 
the  rest,  adapting,  baptizing,  and  turning  the  whole  into 
grace.  What  but  this  could  have  induced  his  purity  to 
tabernacle  in  the  midst  of  sin  ?  it  was  by  no  means  an  in-« 
different  act  to  him  ;  he  svffered,  being  tempted,'  suffered 
in  proportion  to  the  perfection  of  his  holiness,  and  the 
depth  of  his  aversion  to  sin ; x  but  though  his  residence  in 
an  atmosphere  of  sin  was  revolting  to  his  purity,  though 
the  presence  of  depravity  made  his  continuance  here  a  per- 
petual sacrifice,  his  love  induced  him  to  submit,  induced 
him  so  intimately  to  associate  with  the  ungodly,  that  one  of 
his  characteristic  names  became,  '  the  friend  of  publicans 
and  sinners.' 

We  have  said  that  his  character  was  not  only  superior 
to  all  existing  and  surrounding  influences,  but  quite  dis- 
tinct from  them.  Others  are  more  or  less  affected  by  the 
circumstances  in  which  they  are  brought  up;  however 
superior  to  external  influences  they  may  appear,  they  can- 
not escape  entirely  the  spirit  of  the  age ;  they  hold  com- 
munion, and  enjoy  sympathy,  with  those  around  them. 
But  the  character  of  Christ  had  nothing  in  it  local,  tem- 
porary, or  common.  It  appeared  in  the  world  entire,  inde- 
pendent, and  unique.  It  was  formed  for  a  Avorld  which 
had  lost  the  original  pattern  of  goodness,  and  had  sunk 
into  a  state  of  universal  selfishness;  the  whole  of  his  his- 
tory therefore  is  a  history  of  the  sacrifice  of  selfish  feel- 
ings ;  his  life  was  calculated  and  constructed  on  the  prin- 
ciple of  a  laborious  endeavorer  to  imbue  the  world  with 
the  lost  spirit  of  benevolence,  to  baptize  it  afresh  in  the  ele- 
ment of  love. 

The  universality  of  his  plans,  which  left  him  without 
any  contemporaneous  sympathy,  must  also  be  resolved  into 
the  same  principle.  Fie  loved  man  as  man,  he  came  to  be 
the  light  and  life  of  the  world.  His  benevolence  could  not 


HIS    TENDERNESS    AND    BENEVOLENCE.  341 

endure  the  thought  of  a  single  human  being  perishing;  his 
heart  had  room  for  the  whole  race;  and  he  could  not  be 
satisfied  with  less  than  a  universal  offer  of  mercy. 

And  benevolence  is  the  principle  which  harmonized  in 
him  the  most  contrasted  qualities.  In  his  mysterious  per- 
son it  had  brought  into  union  time  and  eternity,  heaven 
and  earth ;  and  in  his  character  it  blended  majesty  such  as 
God  before  had  never  displayed,  with  meekness  such  as 
man  before  had  never  shown.  Dignity,  in  him,  was  not 
terror,  for  he  clothed  it  with  a  condescension  which  had 
before  been  thought  inconsistent  with  greatness.  Tem- 
perance and  self-denial,  with  him,  were  not  darkened  with 
austerity,  but  came  softened  and  recommended  by  gentleness 
and  suavity.  In  him  were  united  an  indignant  sensibility 
to  sin,  with  weeping*  compassion  for  the  sinner;  the  splen- 
dors of  more  than  an  angelic  nature,  with  the  humility  of 
a  little  child;  a  resolved  perseverance  in  the  path  of  duty 
which  no  array  of  dangers  could  deter,  with  a  heart  so 
attuned  to  compassion  that  the  faintest  appeal  of  misery 
arrested  his  progress  as  with  the  power  of  omnipotence, 
and  made  him  stand  still.  While  he  seemed  to  do  every 
thing  for  the  future,  he  yet  neglected  nothing  proper  to 
the  present ;  while  he  held  himself  ready  to  embrace  the 
mightiest  plans,  and  evinced  a  consciousness  that  he  stood 
related  to  the  whole  species,  he  yet  stooped,  without  tri- 
fling, to  the  smallest  circumstance.  Like  the  Almighty 
Father,  sustaining  the  worlds,  yet  stooping  to  succor  the 
falling  bird;  he  one  moment  conversed  with  celestial  vis- 
itants and  the  next  he  listened  to  the  lispings  of  infant 
praise,  or  meekly  bore  the  oltuseness  of  his  disciples. 
He,  who  received  the  homage  of  angels,  and  had  all  their 
legions  at  command,  sees  wealth  in  the  tribute  of  a  sinful 
woman's  tears,  and  finds  the  sweetest  music  in  the  dying 
thanks  of  the  guilty  malefactor.  Having  driven  demons 


342  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

from  his  presence  with  an  awful  rebuke,  he  takes  up  little 
children  to  his  heart;  and  they  feel  in  his  looks  the  secu- 
rity of  home,  and  in  his  tones  an  assurance  of  love  which 
makes  them  reluctant  to  leave  his  arms,  even  for  the  wel- 
come of  a  mother's  bosom.  Having  pourtrayed  the  judg- 
ment of  the  last  day,  and  clothed  himself  with  thunder  as 
the  central  object  of  the  awful  scene,  he  follows  the  first 
beck  of  misery,  or  turns  aside  to  weep  over  the  hardness 
of  human  hearts.  .Having  proclaimed  himself 'the  resur- 
rection and  the  life ;'  how  easily  does  he  descend  from  his 
dignity  to  mingle  his  tears  with  the  bereaved  mourners  ! 
Universal  philanthropy  did  not  impair  his  sensibility  to  the 
pleasures  of  private  friendships  and  domestic  intercourse; 
nor  did  the  momentous  interests,  which  pressed  on  his  soul 
in  the  crisis  of  the  world's  redemption,  prevent  him  from 
thinking  of  his  filial  relation,  and  tenderly  providing  for 
a  mother's  comfort.  Ne'ver  was  there  a  character  at  the 
same  time  so  magnificent  and  unlabored;  so  conscious  of 
greatness,  and  so  unostentatiously  simple  ;  so  full  of  inspi- 
ration to  the  good,  and  so  free  from  terror ;  so  replete  with 
encouragement  to  the  outcast  penitent.  Tn  his  character 
met  the  whole  constellation  of  the  virtues,  each  one  made 
brighter  by  contrast :  but  one  overpowering  sentiment 
softened  and  subjected  them  all  to  itself;  one  all-prevading 
law  gave  unity  and  harmony  to  his  most  opposite  actions; 
interpreting  all  his  words  and  looks;  preventing  him,  even 
in  the  most  critical  situations,  from  being  at  variance  with 
himself,  or  falling  below  his  professed  objects — and  that 
sentiment,  that  law,  was  love. 

In  the  history  of  his  miracles,  we  see  almighty  power 
itself  consenting  to  be  led  by  love,  and  consecrated  to  its 
service.  Had  he  only  intended  to  produce  impressions  of 
his  majesty,  or  prove  the  divinity  of  his  mission,  he  might 
perhaps  have  accomplished  this  sooner  by  appealing  to 


HIS    TENDERNESS    AND     BENEVOLENCE.  343 

our  fears  in  miracles  of  terror  and  destruction.  But  the 
object  he  aimed  at,  and  the  truths  he  taught,  were  both  of 
a  benevolent  nature;  and  the  miracles  he  performed  in  con- 
firmation of  those  truths  partook  of  the  same  character. , 
He  refused  but  one  application  to  his  miraculous  power; 
when  his  disciples  rashly  desired  that  fire  might  descend 
from  heaven  on  their  enemies:  but  he  reminded  them  that 
he  came  not  to  destroy  men's  lives,  but  to  save  them.'  On 
the  night  of  his  apprehension,  he  touched  the  wound  of  an 
enemy  and  healed  it;  for  with  him,  power  and  kindness 
were  the  same  thing.  Wherever  he  came,  disease  and 
suffering  fled  from  his  presence.  His  path  might  be  traced 
from  place  to  place  in  lines  of  life,  and  health,  and  joy. 
Where  he  was  expected,  the  public  way  was  thronged  with 
forms  of  helplessness,  disease,  and  woe.  Where  he  had 
passed,  the  restored  might  be  seen,  making  trial  of  their 
new-found  powers ;  listeners,  formed  into  groups  to  hear 
the  tale  of  healing;  and  the  delighted  objects  of  his  com- 
passion, rehearsing  with  earnestness,  what  had  passed,, 
imitating  his  tones,  and  even  trying  to  convey  an  idea  of 
his  condescending  ways.  His  voice  was  the  first  sound 
which  many  of  them  heard  ;  his  name  the  first  word  they 
had  pronounced;  his  blessed  form  the  first  sight  they  had 
ever  beheld.  And  often,  at  the  close  of  a  laborious  day, 
when  his  wearied  frame  required  repose,  the  children  of 
affliction  besieged  his  retreat,  and  implored  his  help.  And 
did  they  ever  seek  in  vain  !  Wearied  and  worn  as  he  was, 
1  he  pleased  not  himself;'  he  went  forth,  and  patiently  lis- 
tened to  all  their  tales  of  woe,  tasted  their  several  com- 
plaints, raised  each  suppliant  from  the  dust,  nor  left  them 
till  he  had  absorbed  their  sufferings,  and  healed  them  all. 
He  went  through  the  land  like  a  current  of  vital  air,  an 
element  of  life,  diffusing  health  and  joy  wherever  he  ap- 
peared. Had  the  spiritual  object  of  his  advent  permitted 


344  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

the  continuance  of  his  abode  on  earth,  he  would  have  be- 
come the  shrine  at  which  all  disease  would  have  knelt,  the 
centre  to  which  all  suffering  would  have  tended  as  by  a 
law';  to  him  the  world  of  the  afflicted  would  have  gone  as 
on  pilgrimage;  and  would  it  not  then  have  been  equally 
true,  that '  he  healed  them  all  ?' 

Jesus  of  Nazareth  !  who  can  declare  thee !  thou  wast 
the  heart  of  infinite  love,  beating  and  bleeding  for  human 
happiness  !  How  didst  thou  consult  our  wants,  and  adapt 
thyself  to  our  condition  !  Among  the  ignorant,  thou  wast 
the  light  of  life  ;  when  surrounded  by  the  needy,  thou  wast 

the  fullness  of  the  Godhead.     When   didst   thou  disregard 

t? 

the  cry  of  suppliant  misery?  thy  daily  path,  like  the  ra- 
diance left  by  one  of  the  splendors  of  the  firmament  in  its 
midnight  path,  was  marked  with  simple  but  sublime  glory ; 
for,  with  thee,  the  close  of  one  act  of  beneficence  was  the 
commencement  of  another  ;  thou  didst  dispense  thy  bless- 
ing so  profusely,  as  if  thou  hadst  forgotten  that  thou  wert 
a  man  upon  earth,  didst  think  thyself  still  on  thy  throne. 
Why  did  sorrow  come  to  thee  to  have  its  tears  wiped 
away  !  and  conscious  guilt  fall  at  thy  feet  with  an  uplifted 
eye  of  hope  !  why  did  unsheltered  weakness  run,  as  by 
instinct,  to  take  sanctuary  in  thy  presence!  and  penitence 
lay  bare  its  wounds  to  catch  the  balm  that  fell  from  thy 
lips  !  blessed  Jesus,  thou  hadst  a  balm  for  every  wound. 

Thou  hadst  come  to  seek  companionship  with  sorrow  ; 
yet  didst  thou  not  frown  upon  the  social  amenities  of  life, 
but  didst  affably  partake  of  them.  Every  action  of  thine 
was  inlaid  with  grace :  even  aversion,  with  thee,  was  not 
hatred,  but  only  sorrow  heightened  into  concern.  Thy 
mercy  was  not  proud  and  imperial  in  its  blessings;  thou 
didst  condescend  and  love  to  be  thanked ;  and,  O,  if  grat- 
itude melted  into  penitence,  thou  didst  proclaim  a  jubilee 
in  heaven,  and  invite  the  universe  to  share  in  thy  joy. 


HIS    TENDERNESS    AND    BENEVOLENCE.  345 

And  why  wast  thou  thus  benignant?  It  was  not  because 
thou  hadst  been  surprised  into  a  career  of  mercy,  and 
couldst  not  drawback:  for  thou  hadst  looked  into  the 
darkest  recesses  of  depravity  in  the  human  heart,  and 
sounded  the  lowest  depths  of  human  misery,  before  thou 
earnest  to  expiate  and  relieve:  it  was  not  that, as  man  often 
will,  thou  didst  compromise  with  sin,  or  indulge  compas- 
sion at  the  expense  of  truth ;  for  thou  wast  a  martyr  to 
fidelity,  and  a  sacrifice  for  sin  :  nor  was  it  that  thy  charac- 
ter was  all  yielding  and  undistinguishing  softness!  for 
while  thou  wast  as  an  altar  at  which  the  lowest  could 
kneel,  like  an  altar  also  thou  didst  check  the  profane  look, 
and  command  veneration  from  the  passer  by :  nor  was  it 
that  the  world  caressed  thee;  thy  injuries  might  have 
taught  patience  itself  to  blaspheme;  yet  didst  thou  remain 
meek  and  lowly  in  heart,  and  persist  in  turning  the  tears 
of  the  world  into  smiles. 

Jesus  of  Nazareth  !  who  can  declare  thee !  In  thee 
wisdom  and  goodness  were  in  conjunction  with  holiness 
and  power.  All  who  treated  with  thee  tasted  of  goodness, 
of  divinity  ;  thine  actions,  if  distributed  over  the  course  of 
time,  might  have  formed  its  eras;  thy  virtues  were  dow- 
ries sufficient  to  enrich  a  world;  thy  character  was  glory 
set  in  grace. 

II.  With  this  impression  of  our  Lord's  benignity,  let  us, 
secondly,  proceed  to  some  of  the  circumstances  which 
evince  his  benevolence  as  a  Teacher. 

And  here  we  may  as  well,  at  once,  dispose  of  an  objec- 
tion ;  and  it  is  I  believe,  the  only  shadow  of  an  objection 
which  can  be  found  in  the  whole  compass  of  the  evangeli- 
cal narrative,  to  the  tenderness  of  Christ,  in  the  capacity  of 
a  Teacher  ;  arising  from  the  reason  he  assigns  for  speaking 
in  parables.  On  one  occasion,  'the  disciples  came,  and 


346  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

said  unto  him,  Why  speakest  thou  unto  them  in  parables? 
He  answered,  and  said  unto  them,  Because  unto  you 
it  is  given  to  know  the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom  of  heav- 
en, but  to  them  it  is  not  given; therefore  speak  I 

unto  them  in  parables:  because  they  seeing,  see  not;  and 
hearing,  they  hear  not ;  neither  do  they  understand.  And 
in  them  is  fulfilled  the  prophecy  of  Isai.ih,  which  saith, 
By  hearing  ye  shall  hear,  and  shall  not  understand,  and 
seeing  ye  shall  see,  and  shall  not  perceive:  for  this  peo- 
ple's heart  is  waxed  gross,  and  their  ears  are  dull  of  hear- 
ing, and  their  eyes  have  they  closed  ;  Jest  at  any  time 
they  should  see  with  their  eyes,  and  hear  with  their  ears, 
and  should  understand  with  their  heart,  and  should  be  con- 
verted, and  I  should  heal  them.'  From  this  reply,  many 
have  infered  that  our  Lord  addressed  the  Jews  on  that  oc- 
casion in  parables,  that  they  might  not  understand  :  an  in- 
ference which  was  probably  suggested  by  the  apparent  se- 
verity of  the  quotation  from  the  prophet.  But  let  us  only 
remember  the  canon — that  it  is  common  for  God  to  speak 
by  his  prophets,  of  events  that  would  happen,  in  a  manner 
as  if  he  had  enjoined  them — and  ail  appearance  of  severity 
will  vanish. 

That  the  employment  of  parables  was  not  meant,  by 
Christ,  as  an  act  of  judicial  severity,  is  evident  from  the 
following  considerations:  First,  it  was  an  ordinary  and 
prevailing  mode  of  instruction.  Secondly,  the  question 
with  which  he  prefaced  his  parables,  '  Whereunto  shall  we 
liken  the  kingdom  of  God?'  evinced  a  gracious  anxiety 
to  make  himself  understood  by  selecting  similitudes  adapt- 
ed to  their  capacity.  Thirdly,  there  is  every  reason  to 
conclude  that,  had  they  gone  to  him  afterwards  for  an  ex- 
position of  the  parables,  he  would  have  shewn  delight  at 
the  application,  and  have  promptly  met  their  inquires. 
Fourthly,  he  continued  the  parabolic  strain  to  his  disci- 


HIS    TENDERNESS    AND    BENEVOLENCE.  347 

pies  after  the  multitude  had  retired ;  a  proof  that  he  had 
not  adopted  that  strain  in  anger.  Fifthly,  he  frequently 
spoke  in  parables  at  other  times,  when  his  only  object  was 
evidently  to  allure  and  instruct.  Sixthly,  the  contrary 
supposition  is  at  variance  with  all  we  know  of  his  benevo- 
lent character.  The  motive  of  our  Lord  for  speaking-  in 
parables  on  this  occasion,  was  no  doubt  to  avoid  the  mal- 
ice of  his  enemies  ;  for  his  subject,  which  related  to  the 
progress  of  his  kingdom,  would  call  forth  all  the  ingenui- 
ty and  activity  of  that  malice.  And  hence  the  reason  he 
assigns  for  adopting  this  mode  is,  that  their  wickedness 
had  disqualified  them  for  listening  to  more  explicit  teaching, 
and  deprived  them  of  it.  His  speaking  to  them  by  para- 
bles, then  so  far  from  being  an  act  of  judicial  severity,  was 
a  device  of  kindness,  the  recourse  of  compassion.  They 
could  not  look  on  the  open  face  of  truth,  and  he  veiled  it. 
Their  morbid  sensibility  and  malice  left  him  no  alterna- 
tive, but  to  be  indirect  on  this  particular  subject,  or  entire- 
ly silent.  Displeasure  would  have  chosen  the  latter,  but 
compassion  adopted  the  former.  Rather  than  be  quite  si- 
lent, he  addressed  them  by  pnrable;  for  to  have  taken  the 
truth  out  of  this  casket,  would  have  been  casting  pearls  be- 
fore swine.  It  is  true,  that  in  its  effect  it  operated  as  a 
judgment,  for  they  disregarded  its  meaning;  but  we  are 
not,  on  that  account,  to  disparage  his  grace,  any  more  than 
we  impeach  the  conduct  of  the  sower,  some  of  whose  seed 
fell  where  it  took  no  root.  Life  itself  is  a  parable,  a  course 
of  instruction  by  events;  each  of  which,  if  rightly  con- 
strued, is  found  to  contain  a  useful  lesson  ;  but  neglected 
it  leaves  us  in  ignorance  and  aggravated  guilt;  and  yet 
who  does  not  see  that  it  is  a  mode  of  instruction  consistent 
with  kindness,  and  even  dictated  by  love?  We  might 
therefore,  without  refining,  place  the  conduct  of  Christ 
on  this  occasion,  among  the  illustrations  of  his  benevo- 
lence as  a  Teacher. 


348  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

But  other  and  superior  illustrations  demand  our  atten- 
tion. Had  the  object  of  Jesus  been  merely  to  leave  in  our 
possession  a  revelation  of  the  will  of  God,  he  would  have 
dispensed  with  that  tender  solicitude  which  marked  his 
conduct  and  have  confined  himself  exclusively  to  the  de- 
sign of  his  mission.  But  he  came  to  enlighten,  only  that 
he  might  save  ;  and,  like  a  wise  and  kind  instructor,  he 
clothed  himself  in  love  that  he  might  gain  for  his  instruc- 
tions a  place  in  our  heart.  To  this  end  it  was  that  he 
chose  to  move  in  the  humbler  walks  of  life.  Every  con- 
dition of  society  was  open  to  his  choice,  and  human  taste 
would  have  selected  a  state  of  wealth,  and  rank,  and  world- 
ly influence;  but  this  would  have  removed  him  from  the 
society  of  the  people;  whereas  his  object  was  to  make 
himself  one  with  them.  He  selected  others  to  assist  him 
in  preaching  the  kingdom  of  heaven  :  but  he  asked  not 
philosophy  to  argue  in  its  defence,  or  poetry  to  sing  its 
praise,  or  eloquence  to  pour  forth  its  oratory,  or  royalty  to 
clothe  it  with  state,  or  arm  it  with  power.  The  instrumen- 
tality he  employed  was  of  the  humblest  order;  was,  like 
himself,  '  raised  up  from  among  the  people,'  and  therefore 
adapted  to  gain  the  attention  of  the  people 

He  regarded  himself  as  especially  '  anointed  to  preach 
the  gospel  to  the  poor.'  Had  human  right  been  consulted 
on  the  subject,  it  would  fain  have  had  splendor  follow  in 
his  train,  and  wealth  pour  out  its  treasures  before  him,  and 
ambition  receive  titles  and  honors  at  his  hands.  It  would 
have  had  his  gospel  patronized  by  the  great  and  mighty 
of  the  earth  ;  and  then  it  would  have  mingled  among 
them,  and  enrolled  its  name  among  his  followers.  But 
the  great  distinction  of  his  ministry,  and  the  fact  in  which 
he  gloried,  was,  that  the  poor  had  the  gospel  preached  to 
them.  This  was  a  stretch  of  philanthropy  unknown  to 
the  philosophers  of  Greece  and  Rome.  The  transcendant 


HIS    TENDERNESS    AND    BENEVOLENCE.  349 

idea  of  propagating  a  universal  religion — a  system  which 
should  include  the  multitudes  who  throng  the  highways 
and  thoroughfares  of  life,  which  should  convert  religion 
into  daily  bread  for  the  poor — was  reserved  for  him  who 
came  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was  lost.  He  could 
not  look  on  the  exigencies  and  evils  peculiar  to  their  con- 
dition ;  could  not  witness  the  neglect  and  scorn  to  which 
they  were  subjected,  and  of  which  in  the  present  day  it  is 
not  easy  to  form  an  adequate  conception,  without  feeling 
his  compassion  stirred  within  him.  Among  the  most  civ- 
ilized and  polished  nations,  they  were  prostrate  in  the  dust. 
For  them  philosophy  disdained  an  interest  as  utterly  be- 
neath her  notice:  as  having  nothing  sufficiently  vulgar 
for  their  taste.  For  them  the  law  had  no  protecting  arm, 
justice  no  balances ;  right,  if  it  spoke  at  all,  spoke  in  a 
voice  scarcely  to  be  heard:  and  kindness  if  it  deigned  a 
look,  regarded  them  with  a  countenance  which  indicated  a 
heart  at  ease  and  devoid  of  sympathy.  For  their  dark- 
ness, religion,  that  is  to  say,  the  religion  which  prevailed 
had  no  ray  of  light,  nor  did  a  drop  of  its  consolation  fall 
into  their  cup.  Even  in  Judea  itself,  they  were  treated  as 
the  refuse  of  society,  and  as  cut  off  from  the  favor  of  God. 
'  This  people  that  knoweth  not  the  law,'  said  the  proud 
Pharisees,  'are  cursed;'  this  ignorant  and  contemptible 
class,  are  forsaken  of  God,  and  doomed  to  destruction* 
Now  it  was  to  rescue  them  from  this  oppressed  and  de- 
graded state,  to  plead  their  cause,  to  redress  their  wrongs, 
to  wipe  away  their  tears,  to  raise  them  to  that  level  which 
they  ought  to  maintain,  as  heirs  of  immortality,  in  com- 
mon with  those  around  them,  that  Jesus  preached  his  gos- 
pel to  the  poor.  Numerically  considered,  even  they  might 
have  claimed  his  chief  attention,  for  he  saw  that  they  form- 
ed the  large  majority  of  every  land ;  but  their  condition* 
more  than  their  numbers,  touched  his  heart.  He  came 


350  THE       GREAT       TEAdHER. 

down  from  the  throne  of  his  glory,  and  mingled  with  the 
despised  and  neglected  poor.  He  delighted  their  ears 
with  assurances  of  the  divine  regard.  He  invited  them  to 
rest  their  heads  on  the  bosom  of  Providence.  He-  sought 
to  lighten  the  burdens  of  the  heart,  and  to  support  their 
steps  with  the  staff  of  the  divine  regard.  He  aimed  to 
give  them  the  wisdom  which  maketh  wise  unto  salvation. 
While  he  showed  them  that  sin  is  the  most  grievous  pover- 
ty, that  sin  had  robbed  and  stripped  them  of  all  their  spirit- 
ual wealth,  he  taught  them  the  art  of  happiness,  the  secret 
of  amassing  imperishable  wealth,  and  of  treasuring 
it  up  in  heaven.  'And  the  common  people  heard  him 
gladly.' 

In  the  same  spirit  of  surpassing  benevolence  he  taught 
them  gratuitously.  Though  the  knowledge  he  imparted 
was  beyond  the  price  of  rubies  ;  though  at  times  he  had 
not  where  to  lay  his  head  ;  though  weary,  and  way-worn, 
he  had  to  solicit  a  cup  of  cold  water  from  the  hand  of  a 
stranger,  yet  he  labored  without  money  and  without  price; 
the  only  reward  he  desired,  was  the  tear  of  penitence,  and 
the  cordial  reception  of  his  message. 

And  the  mode  of  instruction  he  adopted  was  of  the 
most  simple  description.  He  taught  no  abstract  theories 
inapplicable  to  the  affairs  of  life ;  no  philosophic  systems 
incomprehensible  to  ordinary  capacities  ;  dealt  in  no  cab- 
alistic lore ;  sanctioned  no  distinctions  of  philosophical 
teaching.  Jewish  pride  would  have  dictated  that  if  a  new 
dispensation  was  to  be  given,  it  should  be  proclaimed  im- 
mediately from  heaven ;  that,  amidst  the  splendors  of  an- 
other Sinai,  it  should  be  delivered  by  the  ministry  of 
angels.  Had  the  taste  of  Greece  been  consulted,  it  would 
have  required  that  the  gospel  should  be  announced  in  all 
the  studied  beauties  of  composition,  supported  by  the  ingen* 
ious  reasonings,  and  accompanied  by  the  airy  speculations 


HIS    TENDERNESS    AND    BFNEVOLENCE  351 

in  which  their  philosophers  were  accustomed  to  propound 
their  flimsy  abstractions.  But  the  Great  Teacher  would 
not  thus  debase  his  gospel,  and  frustrate  his  design.  He 
sought  to  make  himself  universal ;  to  speak  to  humanity. 
His  tongue  was  only  the  interpreter  for  his  heart ;  and  he 
aimed  to  render  his  teaching  a  contact  of  hearts.  The 
*  key  of  knowledge  had  been  taken  away,'  by  those  who 
should  have  held  it  only  for  the  people;  they  had  'shut 
up  the  kingdom  of  heaven'  from  the  poor,  and  left  them  to 
perish  :  and,  while  he  charged  them  with  this  awful  fraud 
on  the  well-being  of  man,  he  hastened  to  supply  the  per- 
ishing with  superior  means  of  salvation.  '  He  sought  out, 
and  set  in  order,  acceptable  words.'  His  leading  topics 
were  few,  that  he  might  not  confuse ;  but  so  personal  and 
important,  that  they  found  a  response  and  an  interpreter  in 
every  bosom.  He  simplified  knowledge,  and  reduced  it  to 
its  elements :  now  removing  the  veil  from  an  ancient 
prophecy,  now  uttering  a  touching  parable,  now  a  graphic 
illustration  from  familiar  life,  now  an  easy  precept  or  weigh- 
ty truth,  and  presently  returning  again  to  place  the  same 
truth  in  a  new  light.  Though  all  the  science  of  eternity 
was  hid  in  his  mind,  and  the  unspeakable  words  which  it 
is  not  lawful  for  a  man  to  utter  could  have  flown  from  his 
tongue,  he  delighted  to  be  known  as  the  teacher  of  babes. 
He  lowered  himself  down  to  their  capacity,  waited  on  their 
dulness,  tasted  knowledge  for  them,  and  fed  them  with  food 
convenient  for  them.  He  went  about  as  the  the  bread  of  life. 
And  the  simplicity  of  his  teaching  was  only  in  accord- 
ance with  its  compassionate  design — to  console  the  wretch- 
ed. The  effect  of  sorrow  is  to  reduce  our  nature  to  its 
elements  ;  to  suspend  our  intellectual  powers,  and  resolve 
us  into  creatures  of  mere  feeling;  to  shut  up  every  avenue 
but  that  which  leads  to  the  heart.  He  knew  that  grief 
thus  simplifies  our  nature,  and  he  provided  a  remedy  equal- 


352  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

ly  simple.  He  imparted  truths  to  which  the  heart  listens 
and  which  the  heart  alone  can  understand ;  for  he  held 
the  heart  of  the  world  in  his  hand  ;  and  knowing  the  se- 
cret of  all  its  sympathies,  he  communed  with  its  weakness, 
and  sorrows  by  methods  peculiarly  his  own.  Sorrow  was, 
in  his  eyes,  among  the  most  sacred  things  he  found  on  earth  ; 
and  had  it  not  been  so  before,  the  reverent  attention  with 
which  he  honored  it,  and  the  simple  and  sympathetic 
terms  in  which  he  addressed  it  would  have  made  it  hal- 
lowed. He  knew  also  that  the  time  of  affliction  would 
be  the  season  when  numbers  would  first  direct  a  look  to 
the  gospel  for  relief:  when  help,  if  it  came  to  them  at  all, 
must  come  without  effort;  when  the  staff  must  not  only  be 
provided,  but  actually  put  into  their  hand.  And  know- 
ing this,  he  published  his  gospel  as  a  system  of  consola- 
tion for  the  miserable  ;  and  they  who  know  it  best  are  the 
readiest  to  confess  how  fully  it  answers  to  the  character ; 
after  the  trial  of  ages,  it  maintains  its  prerogative  of  bind- 
ing up  the  broken  heart. 

Even  the  places  in  which  he  taught  evinced  his  conde- 
scension. If  he  discoursed  in  the  temple,  it  was  not  from 
any  regard  to  its  vastness,  splendor  or  circumstantial  sanc- 
tity ;  for,  in  his  eyes,  it  was  only  the  mausoleum  of  piety, 
the  tomb  of  a  departed  dispensation;  but  because  he  could 
there  teach  'Before  all  the  people  ;'  could  there  especially 
at  the  great  festivals  when  it  became  the  centre  of  attrac- 
tion, could  there  meet  with  and  appeal  to  the  heart  of  the 
nation.  But  during  his  ministry,  it  could  be  said  literally, 
'Wisdom  crieth  without ;  in  the  chief  concourse  of  the 
people.'  The  ship,  the  strand,  the  desert,  the  mountain, 
were  as  eligible  in  his  view,  as  the  city  and  the  tempje, 
for  the  work  of  saving  souls  from  death.  By  his  god- 
like indifference  to  time  and  place,  in  the  work  of  relig- 
ious instruction,  he  consecrated  the  practice  of  itinerant 


HIS  TENDERNESS  AND  BENEVOLENCE.       353 

preaching.  He  embodied  the  conduct  of  the  good  shep- 
herd in  his  own  parable  of  the  lost  sheep,  traversing  with 
unwearied  zeal,  the  moral  wilderness  of  Judea;  in  quest  of 
'the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel.' 

Wherever  he  found  a  multitude  disposed  to  listen,  he 
was  prompt  to  address  to  them  the  words  of  eternal  life. 
Some  present  object,  some  late  occurrence  or  familiar  inci- 
dent, was  the  point  from  which  he  led  them,  step  by  step, 
up  an  easy  ascent,  to  themes  of  heavenly  altitude,  of  infi- 
nite importance.  He  was  always  ready  to  gratify  the  in- 
quirer, provided  his  inquiries  were  made  with  sincerity, 
and  were  such  as  he  could  solve  with  propriety.  Though 
he  often  enjoined  hjs  disciples  to  tell  no  man  where  he  was 
• — for  in  his  life  were  combined  the  active  and  the  contem- 
plative in  perfect  proportions — yet  the  eager  suppliant  who 
should  succeed,  at  such  times,  in  discovering  and  pene- 
trating his  retreat,  never  encountered  a  repulse,even  though 
'  he  came  to  Jesus  by  night.3  Over  the  door  of  his  most 
sacred  retreat  may  be  said  to  have  been  inscribed,  *  knock, 
and  it  shall  be  opened.'  When  his  disciples  came  to  him 
in  private  to  request  an  explanation  of  the  statements  he 
had  been  making  in  public,  he  was  always  ready  to  de- 
scend to  their  low  capacities,  and  to  gratify  their  desires. 
When  Peter  replied  to  his  inquiry  concerning  his  personal 
claims, '  Thou  art  the  Christ  the  Son  of  the  living  God  ; ' 
like  a  teacher  charmed  with  the  progress  of  his  pupil,  and 
anxious  to  encourage  him,  he  pronounced  him  blessed  and 
rewarded  him  with  an  animating  promise.  He  watched 
the  progress  of  his  disciples,  however  slow,  with  more 
than  parental  delight.  He  spoke  in  accents  of  encourage- 
ment to  piety  of  the  weakest  pulse  ;  feeding  it  with  line 
upon  line,  and  invigorating  it  with  promise  upon  promise. 
Lessons  unwelcome  to  our  depravity,  but  important  to 
our  happiness,  he  not  only  repeated  often,  but  even  devised 
22 


354  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

the  most  condescending  expedients  to  make  them  live 
in  our  minds.  His  disciples  had  often  contested  the  ques- 
tion of  precedence  in  his  kingdom.  He  could  at  once 
have  rebuked  their  amhition  with  a  denunciation  of  wrath, 
have  withered  their  pride  with  a  frown  ;  but,  in  accord- 
ance with  his  characteristic  benevolence,  he  chose  to  ad- 
monish them  by  an  affecting  sign  whieh  they  could  not 
easily  forget.  How  beautiful,  affecting,  and  instructive  the 
sight !  The  Lord  of  glory  folding  in  his  arms  a  helpless 
babe,  as  an  emblem  of  the  humility  which  adorns  his 
kingdom.  Humility,  from  that  day,  needs  to  plead  no 
other  sanction  for  her  lowliest  acts. 

Often  had  he  inculcated  the  condescending  offices  of 
brotherly  love,  for  well  he  knew,  that,  like  the  ligaments 
and  arterial  net-work  of  the  human  frame,  the  health  and 
happiness  of  his  body — the  church — depended  on  their 
binding  power  and  reciprocating  influence.  But  by  what 
new  expedient  can  he  deepen  the  effects  of  his  past  les- 
sons ?  'Jesus,  knowing  that  the  Father  had  given  all 
things  into  his  hands,  and  that  he  was  come  from  God, 
and  went  to  God  ;  he  riseth  from  supper,  and  laid  aside 
his  garments ;  and  took  a  towel,  and  girded  himself,  and 
washed  his  disciples'  feet.  When  he  was  about  to  ascend 
to  the  seat  of  universal  empire  ;  when  the  cross  alone  re- 
mained between  him  and  the  government  of  heaven,  earth, 
and  hell;  even  'then  betook  a  towel  and  girded  himself, 
and  poured  water  into  a  basin,  and  washed  the  disciples' 
feet,  and  wiped  them  with  the  towel  wherewith  he  was 
girded;  saying,  Ye  call  me  Master  and  Lord;  and  ye 
say  well,  for  so  I  am.  If  I  then,  your  Lord  and  Master, 
have  washed  your  feet,  ye  also  ought  to  wash  one  anoth- 
er's feet;' — to  condescend  to  the  lowest  office  of  Christian 
beneficence  and  love.  Beyond  this,  he  might  have  said, 
ye  cannot  go. 


HIS    TENDERNESS    AND    BENEVOLENCE-  355 

But,  O,  there  was  another  lesson  to  be  taught,  the  high- 
est, and  the  last:  a  lesson  comprehensive  of  every  other  ; 
and  he  sought  to  steep  it  in  the  essence  of  his  tenderness 
and  love.  He,  who  laid  aside  his  garments  to  wash 
his  disciples'  feet,  had  laid  aside  his  robes  of  celestial  light, 
and  taken  upon  him  the  form  of  a  servant,  that  he  might 
become  obedient  unto  death,  even  the  death  of  the  cross. 
1  The  same  night,  therefore,  in  which  he  was  betrayed  he 
took  bread :  and  when  he  had  given  thanks,  he  brake  it, 
and  said,  Take,  eat:  this  is  my  body,  which  is  broken  for 
you:  this  do  in  remembrance  of  me.  After  the  same 
manner,  also,  he  took  the  cup,  when  he  had  supped,  saying, 
This  is  my  blood  of  the  New  Testament,  which  is  shed 
for  many  for  the  remission  of  sins ;  this  do  ye,  as  oft  as  ye 
drink  it,  in  remembrance  of  me.3  Thus  tenderly  did  he 
seek  to  impress  us  with  the  great  love  wherewith  he  had 
loved  us:  to  remind  us  how  essential  he  is  to  our  hap- 
piness; and  to  live  in  our  devout  affections.  By  this 
touching  rite,  he  would  have  us  to  erect  his  cross  in  our 
minds,  that  we  may  hold  personal  and  perpetual  commun- 
ion with  his  dying  love.  He  gives  into  our  hands  the 
doctrine  of  his  atoning  sacrifices,  charging  us  to  keep  it — 
by  all  that  is  sacred  in  his  death,  precious  in  his  love,  val- 
uable in  our  own  happiness — charging  us  to  keep  it  em- 
balmed in  his  own  blood.  He  gloried  in  his  cross  as  the 
pillar  of  human  hope ;  the  column  on  which  he  desired 
that  his  name  might  be  inscribed  as  the  great  memento  of 
his  love  to  man,  as  that  single  act  by  which  he  is  content 
to  be  known  and  on  which  he  desires  to  rest  his  claim  on 
the  eternal  gratitude  of  the  world.  Knowing  the  power 
which  it  would  give  him  on  human  hearts,  he  has  made 
his  cross  the  depository  of  all  the  doctrines  of  salvation. 

III.     But,  thirdly  our  professed  object  requires  that  we 
should  present  examples  from  our  Lord's  teaching,  illus- 


356  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

trative  of  his  tenderness  and  benevolence.  *  Learn  of  me/ 
said  he, '  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  of  heart ;  and  ye  shall 
find  rest  unto  your  souls.'  This  is  the  character  which 
he  gave  of  himself  as  a  teacher  ;  and  the  only  instance, 
in  which  he  laid  claim  directly  to  human  excellencies. 
And  who  will  not  accord  to  him  the  amiable  qualities 
which  he  here  claims?  When  first  he  opened  his  lips  in 
the  synagogue  of  Nazareth,  the  audience  wondered  at  the 
gracious  words  which  proceeded  from  his  mouth.  And 
the  description  of  his  benevolent  commission,  which  he 
then  read  from  the  prophet,  and  distinctly  appropriated  to 
himself,  seems  intended  to  throw  forward  a  tender  and  mel- 
lowing light  on  the  whole  of  his  after  course.  By  inform- 
ing us  at  first  of  the  gracious  character  he  meant  to  sus- 
tain, he  seems  to  seek  to  disarm  our  opposition,  to  invite  our 
confidence,  to  ask  us  to  meet  his  tenderness  with  a  corres- 
ponding feeling  of  affectionate  reliance.  From  a  certain 
date,  too,  in  his  public  ministration,  his  teaching  must  have 
acquired  a  very  affecting  character,  from  his  frequent  allu- 
sion to  his  approaching  sufferings  and  death.  '  From  that 
time  forth  began  Jesus  to  show  unto  his  disciples,  how  that 
he  must  go  unto  Jerusalem,  and  suffer  many  things  of  the 
elders,  and  chief  priests,  and  scribes,  and  be  killed,  and  be 
raised  again  the  third  day.'  Up  to  that  time  he  had  but 
obscurely  alluded  to  the  subject :  but  suddenly  he  lays  na* 
ked  to  their  view — the  cross  ;  bespeaks  of  coming  sorrows, 
approaching  sufferings,  impending  death ;  he  paints  a 
scene  in  which  he  appears  the  principal  object,  bending 
under  the  weight  of  across,  spit  upon,  scourged,  crucified, 
the  victim  of  human  and  infernal  malice.  Most  probably, 
as  often  as  he  adverted.to  the  topic,  his  voice  took  deeper 
and  more  tender  tones,  and  his  countenance  assumed  a 
more  solemn  aspect ;  but  whether  they  did  so  or  not,  his 
teaching,  which  had  always  been  grave  and  pathetic,  had 


HIS    TENDERNESS    AND    BENEVOLENCE.  357 

from  this  time  infused  into  it  a  new  element  of  solemnity 
and  pathos.  Henceforth  he  stood  in  a  shadow,  which 
threw  on  him  a  tender  and  solemn  grandeur — the  shadow 
of  the  cross;  and  while  speaking  from  that  position,  his 
promises  became  more  gracious,  and  his  commands  more 
affecting,  and  binding  than  ever. 

1.  The  first  sentence  he  uttered,  in  his  first  recorded 
discourse,  is  a  sample  of  the  spirit  he  breathed  in  all  his 
subsequent  addresses:  *  Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit,  for 
their's  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven.'  To  bless  men,  to  make 
them  happy,  was  the  great  object  for  which  he  descended 
from  heaven.  He  came  into  the  world,  expressly,  to  bless 
whatever  he  could,  to  encourage  and  promote  it,  and  to  res- 
cue from  earth  whatever  would  accord  with  the  purity,  and 
enhance  the  glory  of  the  world  from  which  he  came.  In- 
stead of  using  the  lofty  and  imperative  style  of  positive 
command,  he  seems  to  dismiss  the  state  of  supreme  au- 
thority, to  lay  aside  the  character  of  the  legislator,  and  to 
appear  only  as  the  Saviour  and  the  Friend  :  in  the  most  gen« 
tie  and  engaging  manner,  he  insinuates  his  will,  and  our 
duty,  by  pronouncing  those  blessed  who  comply  with  it. 
Blessing  after  blessing  follow  each  other  in  quick  succes- 
sion ;  every  sentence  comes  from  his  lips  loaded  with 
grace;  like  the  gushing  forth  of  a  fountain  long  sealed  up, 
they  showed  the  fulness  of  benevolence  which  possessed 
his  heart. 

Rejecting  the  minions  and  favorites  of  the  world,  he  se- 
lected those  whom  the  world  disowns.  The  poor  in 
spirit,  the  meek,  the  holy,  the  sorrowful,  and  broken-heart- 
ed, the  merciful,  the  sincere,  the  peaceful,  the  persecuted; 
the  orphans,  the  disinherited,  the  rejected  of  the  world; 
such  was  the  large  family  on  whom  his  blessings  fell,  and 
to  whom  he  opened  his  arms,  and  welcomed  them  to  the 
shelter  of  his  heart.  Each  of  the  virtues  which  he  here 


358  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

implies,  maybe  regarded  as  a  separate  and  essential  feature 
of  Christian  excellence;  and  as  he  adds  one  lineament  to 
the  portrait  after  another,  he  surveys  it  with  delight.  He 
sees  wealth  in  that  spiritual  poverty  more  ample  and  endur- 
ing than  all  the  treasures  which  earth  can  boast ;  a  majesty 
in  this  meekness,  to  which  pride  can  never  erect  itself;  and 
in  this  Christian  sorrow,  he  beholds  the  seeds  of  joy,  the 
blossomings  of  glory.  Fie  contemplates  it  in  reference  to 
another  state  of  being;  and,  though  the  world  in  its  blind- 
ness may  hold  this  character  in  contempt,  he  knows  that  it 
is  such  as  angels  will  bless;  that  the  great  God,  seated  on 
the  throne  of  heaven,  pronounces  it  blessed,  repeats  over 
it  all  the  divine  beatitudes:  he  would  have  us  to  know 
that  when  it  departs  by  death  from  this  earthly  scene,  he 
raises  and  welcomes  it  into  his  own  kingdom  ;  and  that 
when  every  mere  earthly  embellishment  shall  have  faded 
and  disappeared,  he  will  proclaim  it  happy  in  the  presence 
of  the  universe,  and  crown  it  with  glory  and  honor;  that 
it  is  a  character  whose  blessedness  eternity  itself  \\ill  ratify 
and  augment.  As  if  the  benevolence  of  God  had  forsaken 
every  other  vent  to  find  a  channel  through  his  lips,  thus 
freely  and  copiously  did  he  pour  forth  his  divine  benedic- 
tions. 

And  may  we  not  affirm,  without  a  paradox,  that  it  was 
in  the  exercise  of  this  same  benevolence  that  he  uttered 
those  denunciations  of  woe — if,  indeed,  they  are  not  rather 
to  be  regarded  as  exclamations  of  pity — recorded  in  the 
23d  chapter  of  the  Gospel  of  Matthew.  The  compassion 
which  brought  him  from  heaven  dictated  these  denuncia- 
tions ;  for  he  uttered  them  in  the  defence  of  the  oppressed 
and  the  wretched.  Having  identified  himself  with  the  vic- 
tims of  injustice,  he  stood  forth  in  their  behalf,  as  one  who 
felt  himself  personally  insulted  and  dishonored  by  their 
wrongs.  He  would  be  known  to  the  avaricious,  the  proud, 


HIS    TENDERNESS    AND    BENEVOLENCE.  359 

and  unjust,  as  the  Patron  of  injured  humanity  ;  taking 
misery  within  the  pale  of  the  divine  law,  and  extending 
over  it  the  shield  of  his  divine  protection.  But  even  his 
denuciation  of  (  Woe'  woe!'  ended  in  that  affecting  apos- 
trophe, -O  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem, how  often  would  I 

have  gathered  thy  children  together,  even  as  a  hen  gather- 
eth  her  chickens  under  her  wings,  and  ye  would  not!1 
Like  the  thunder-cloud,  which,  having  discharged  its  bolt 
at  the  earth  weeps  itself  away,  exhausts  itself  in  a  healing 
shower  which  closes  the  rent  it  had  made;  so  his  pity 
commiserates,  and  pours  itself  forth  over  those  whom,  in 
the  same  breath,  he  had  felt  himself  called  to  rebuke. 

2.  In  the  same  discourse  which  opens  with  the  beati- 
tudes, and  prevaded  with  the  same  compassionate  spirit, 
we  meet  with  the  exhortation,  *  Therefore  I  say  unto  you, 
Take  no  thought  for  your  life,  what  ye  shall  eat,  or  what 
ye  shall  drink:  nor  yet  for  your  body  what  ye  shall  put 
on.  Is  not  the  life  more  than  meat,  and  the  body  than  rai- 
ment? Behold  the  fowls  of  the  air  :  for  they  sow  not, 
neither  do  they  reap,  nor  gather  into  barns  ;  yet  your  heav- 
enly Father  feedeth  them.  Are  ye  not  much  better  than 
they?  Which  of  you  by  taking  thought  can  add  one  cubit 
unto  his  stature?  And  why  take  ye  thought  for  raiment? 
Consider  the  lilies  of  the  field,  how  they  grow  ;  they  toil 
not,  neither  do  they  spin  :  And  yet  I  say  unto  you,  That 
even  Solomon  in  all  his  glory  was  not  arrayed  like  one  of 
these.  Wherefore  if  God  so  clothe  the  grass  of  the  field, 
which  to-day  is,  and  to-morrow  is  cast  into  the  oven,  shall 
he  not  much  more  clothe  you,  O  ye  of  little  faith  ?'  &c. 
Matt.  vi.  25 — 34.  This  is  one  of  the  beauties  of  scripture. 
Had  it  no  other  recommendation  than  its  felicity  of  illus- 
tration, and  its  graces  of  composition,  it  would  deserve  our 
warm  admiration  ;  and  indeed  it  has  received  the  tribute  of 
admiration  from  men  who  were  only  in  pursuit  of  literary 


360  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

beauties.  But  it  has  higher  qualities  of  excellence  than 
these  ;  it  speaks  to  the  understanding  and  heart,  on  themes  of 
deep  and  universal  importance.  It  contemplates  the  world 
laboring,  restless,  fevered  about  the  petty  provisions  of  the 
present  life;  causing  their  cup  of  sorrow  to  overflow,  by 
holding  it  with  an  unsteady  hand  ;  anxiously  looking  on- 
ward to  the  future,  borrowing  the  distrt-sses  of  the  morrow 
to  aggravate  those  of  the  present  day  ;  loading  themselves 
with  burdens  of  grief  which  do  not  belong  to  them,  and 
which  they  are  not  required  to  bear:  and,  surveying  this 
scene  of  overtoiled  labor,  and  sleepless  anxiety,  and  wast- 
ing solicitude,  in  which  mortals  are  embroiled,  the  voice 
of  Jesus,  the  friend  of  man,  the  tender  sympathizer  with 
human  woe,  is  heard,  rising  in  tones  of  the  kindest  com- 
passion, above  the  sighs,  and  plaints,  and  groans  of  the 
multitude,  and  saying,  '  Peace,  be  still ;  mourner,  dry  thy 
tears  ;  ye,  who  are  laden  with  the  self-imposed  burdens  of 
worldly  care,  deposit  the  heavy  load  ;  ye  destitute,  who 
count  yourselves  outcasts  of  the  world,  for  whom  no  one 
cares,  know  that  you  have  a  Father,  and  that  the  God  of 
providence  is  he.  Come,  learn  of  me,  and  I  will  give  you 
rest ;  I  will  allay  your  anxieties,  and  lay  your  hearts  to 
rest  on  the  bosom  of  that  paternal  Providence  which  cares 
arid  provides  for  all  it  has  made;  for  every  thing,  from  the 
meanest  herb  which  it  feeds  with  the  precious  dews,  up  to 
the  immortal  soul  on  which  it  pours  the  immediate  influ- 
ences of  the  divine  Spirit.' 

It  is  true,  that  the  books  of  pagan  morality  abound  with 
counsels  against  grief.  The  cup  of  sorrow  is  so  constantly 
in  circulation,  passing  from  hand  Tto  hand,  through  the 
whole  family  of  man,  and  every  individual  has  so  surely, 
sooner  or  later,  to  drink  a  portion  of  the  bitter  draught ; 
that  there  is  no  subject  which  is  more  popular,  or  on  which 
men  speak  more  frequently  and  feelingly,  than  on  that  of 


HIS    TENDERNESS    AND    BENEVOLENCE.  361 

human  exigence  and  sorrow:  and  none  which  it  is  more 
easy  to  reason  against,  showing  the  folly,  the  uselessness, 
and  injuriousness  of  excessive  solicitude.  But  the  reason- 
ings of  Christ  on  the  subject  have  this  vast  distinction  of 
superiority  :  he  does  not  unfeelingly  and  gratuitously  dis- 
parage the  wants  and  the  trials  of  life ;  he  does  not  seek  to 
degrade  our  nature  by  divesting  us  of  feeling,  and  reduc- 
ing us  to  a  state  of  brutish  insensibility  ;  he  would  have 
us  to  believe  that  our  earthly  cares  are  of  sufficient  impor- 
tance to  engage  the  attention  of  .the  Divine  Being;  and, 
in  that  persuasion,  he  would  have  us  to  devolve  the  entire 
burden  upon  him.  He  does  not  propose  to  give  us  free- 
dom from  care,  merely  for  its  own  sake ;  nor  does  he  seek 
to  disengage  our  hearts  from  the  world  without  filling  the 
vacuum  with  a  new  object :  he  would  replace  the  perish- 
ing trifles  of  earth,  with  objects  vast  as  our  wishes  and  per- 
manent as  our  being:  and  would  discharge  us  from  all 
the  corroding  anxieties  of  time,  only  that  we  may  be  free 
to  put  forth  all  our  unincumbered  strength  in  the  pursuit 
of  heaven.  He  knows  that  our  whole  nature  is  reduced 
to  a  state  of  exigence :  not  the  body  merely,  but  also  the 
immortal,  imperishable  soul:  and  with  the  deep  anxiety 
of  true  friendship,  he  sees  that  our  extreme  solicitude  about 
this  life  entirely  disqualifies  us  for  attending  to  the  eternal 
exigencies  of  the  soul;  he  would  fain,  therefore,  relieve 
us  from  the  pressure  of  the  present,  lest  we  should  lose  the 
substance  in  grasping  at  the  shadow.  He  assures  us, 
therefore  in  accents  of  gracious  concern,  that  if  we  will 
but  seek  supremely  lthe  kingdom  of  God  and  his  right- 
eousness,' we  shall,  from  that  moment,  find  that  God  is  our 
Father  :  that,  as  we  advance  from  stage  to  state  in  our 
way  to  his  kingdom,  we  shall  find  the  nescessaries  of  life 
ready  and  waiting  our  arrival  ;  and  that  rather  would  he 
move  all  nature,  and  put  all  his  miraculous  agency  in  op- 


362  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

eration,    than   dishonor  his  paternal  relation,  or  disappoint 
the  confidence  we  repose  in  his  word. 

3.  *  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  la- 
den, and  I  will  give  you  rest.  Take  my  yoke  upon  you, 
and  learn  of  me,  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  in  heart :  and 
ye  shall  find  rest  unto  you  souls.  For  my  yoke  is  easy 
and  my  burden  is  light.'  Among  the  numerous  illustra- 
tions of  our  present  subject,  which  spontaneously  rise  to 
our  recollection,  this  passage  is  one  of  the  first,  and  claims 
our  attention  by  its  pre-eminence  of  grace. 

A  message  from  the  Baptist  which  is  related  at  the  open- 
ing of  the  chapter,  had  led  our  Lord  to  advert  to  that  pre- 
vailing impenitence  and  unbelief  which  had  resited  both 
the  preaching  of  John,  and  his  own  ministry  and  miracles. 
'Woe  unto  thee,'  said  he;  or,  'Alas  for  thee,  Chorazin  ! 
alas  for  thee,  Bethsaida  !•  He  might  have  called  down 
fire  upon  them,  like  that  which  desolated  the  cities  of  the 
plain  ;  for  he  affirmed,  that  their  guilt  exceeded  that  of 
Sodorn  and  Gomorrah.  But  though  he  seems  at  the  mo- 
ment, to  have  taken  a  wide  survey  of  human  depravity,  and 
to  have  been  deeply  affected  at  the  sight,  he  prayed  for  no 
vengeance,  breathed  no  desire  to  relinquish  the  work  of 
saving  ungrateful  man.  On  the  contrary,  as  he  feared 
that,  by  upbraiding  the  people  for  their  unbelief,  he  had 
been  placing  himself  in  an  unwelcome  light;  as  if,  by 
glancing  at  the  topic,  he  had  been  actually  doing  violence  to 
his  own  benignity,  repressing  for  a  time  the  current  of  be- 
nevolence which  ever  flowed  through  his  heart;  as  if  he 
now  felt  all  the  Saviour  return  again  into  his  breast,  he  ex- 
claimed with  divine  compassion,  with  an  irresistible  kind- 
ness that  would  not  be  denied,  'Come  unto  me,  and  I  will  give 
you  rest.'  To  add  force  to  his  appeal,  he  prefaces  it  with 
a  declaration  of  his  divine  relation  to  the  Father,  of  the 
identity  of  their  charactei,  and  of  the  fact  that,  as  our  Re- 


HIS    TENDERNESS    AND    BENEVOLENCE.  363 

deemer,  all  things  are  delivered  into  his  hands.  There- 
fore, saith  he,  '  Come  and  partake.  All  things  are  mine  5 
come,  and  share  them.  I  have  received  them  for  your  en" 
joyment  and  use  !  come  and  let  me  confer  them  upon  you 
I  am  made  the  Treasurer,  the  Almoner  of  all  the  riches  and 
resources  of  the  divine  nature;  and  you  aretDbe  made  the 
happy  recipients  ;  come,  and  let  me  make  you  the  richer 
by  the  free  gift  of  eternal  life. 

Had  the  invitation  been  addressed  to  any  one  class  ex- 
clusively, how  invidous  an  office  would  it  have  been  to 
proclaim  the  gospel ;  and  how  mournful  the  feelings  with 
which  many  would  retire  from  hearing  it ;  for  they  would 
find  that  it  was  not  meant  for  them.  But  it  knows  no  such 
exclusion.  It  addresses  us  by  a  description  which  is  com- 
mon to  humanity  ;  its  boast  and  glory  is,  that  it  is  intended 
for  all  who  need  it ;  all  who  labor  and  are  heavy  laden.  It 
does  not  even  pry  into  the  cause  of  our  restlessness  ;  it  does 
not  ask  what  occasions  our  distress;  it  only  inquires 
whether  or  not  we  are  the  subjects  of  disquietude.  If  we 
can  look  within,  and  pronounce  all  calm  and  tranquil  there  ; 
if  we  can  look  around  on  the  various  circumstances  and 
relations  of  life  in  which  we  are  concerned — and  back- 
wards on  the  history  of  our  past  life — and  forward  into 
the  eternal  future  which  we  are  rapidly  approaching :  if,  on 
taking  this  survey,  we  can  see  no  cloud  in  the  whole  hori- 
zon to  disturb  our  repose  ;  then  may  we  take  it  for  granted, 
the  invitation  was  not  meant  for  us.  Or,  if  we  can  point  out 
one,  whose  heart  is  corroded  by  no  care,  restless  after  no 
object,  disturbed  by  no  apprehension,  we  have  discovered 
an  individual  uninterested  in  his  appeal.  But,  till  then, 
it  admits  of  no  restriction,  its  application  is  universal. 

In  uttering  it,  our  Lord  undoubtedly  selected  language 
which  would  meet  the  condition,  and  fall  soothingly  on  the 
ear,  of  every  man.  He  had  surveyed,  on  the  morning  of 


364  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

creation,  the  vast  and  disordered  abyss  of  chaos  ;  and  he 
had  silenced  its  tumults,  and  reduced  every  element  to  or- 
der. He  had  sailed  with  his  disciples,  in  a  storm  which 
threatened  them  \\ith  destruction,  and  had  calmed  it  to 
rest :  but  when  he  surveyed  the  condition  of  man,  he  be- 
held a  storm  more  furious  and  deadly  than  that  which 
raged  on  the  sea  of  Tiberias,  and  a  scene  of  confusion 
more  appalling  than  that  which  chaos  presented  on  the 
morning  of  creation.  His  eye  travelled  over  scenes  and 
wastes  of  human  woe  ;  scenes  in  which  he  saw  the  chains 
of  captivity,  the  pains  of  superstition,  the  struggles  of  pov- 
erty, the  disappointments  of  ambition,  the  misgivings  of 
the  self-righteous,  and  the  exhausted  efforts  of  the  sinner, 
lashed  by  the  reproaches  of  an  angry  conscience,  and  aim- 
ing to  escape  from  a  load  of  guilt.  He  heard  the  thicken- 
ing cries  of  misery;  his  ear  caught  a  sigh,  or  a  sound  of 
woe,  from  every  habitation,  every  breast  of  man  ;  a  never- 
ebbing  tide  of  the  sounds  of  anguish,  strife  and  death.  His 
omniscience  penetrated  every  heart,  and  saw  the  tooth  of 
care  corroding  the  peace,  not  merely  of  the  poor  and  afflict- 
ed, but  preying  alike  on  the  learned,  the  wealthy,  and  the 
mighty  of  the  earth.  He  beheld  a  storm,  in  which  every 
one  was  seeking  for  shelter,  wi'hout  knowing  where  to 
obtain  it;  and  voluntarily  exposing  himself  to  all  its  hor- 
rors, he  pressed  forth  into  the  midst  of  it,  and  exclaimed, 
with  a  heart  which  felt  and  bled  for  them  all,  '  Come  unto 
me,  and  I  will  give  you  rest.' 

This  is  an  invitation  from  which  no  peculiarity  in  our 
character  or  condition  can  possibly  exclude  us.  If  any 
such  exception  could  be  named,  it  must  be  the  peculiar  ac- 
cumulation of  our  guilt,  or  the  amount  of  our  misery;  but 
this,  so  far  from  excluding,  brings  us  more  completely 
within  the  scope  of  its  grace.  Were  it  possible  for  a  man 
to  unite  in  his  own  individual  person,  all  the  wants,  and 


HIS  TENDERNESS  AND  BENEVOLENCE.      365 

guilt,  and  capacities  of  the  whole  human  race,  the  invita- 
tion would  only  address  him  in  a  more  personal  manner, 
and  with  a  deeper  emphasis  of  compassion.  And  shall 
all  this  benevolence  be  lost  on  us?  In  the  name  of  all  that 
is  tender  and  gracious  he  urges  us  to  come.  He  address- 
es us  as  if  we  had  never  offended  him,  nor  had  rendered 
it  necessary  that  he  should  suffer  on  our  account;  as  if,  in 
contemplating  our  wants,  he  had  actually  forgotten  our  de- 
pravity and  gui-lt.  Indeed,  had  he  himself  been  the  offend- 
ing party,  and  had  entailed  on  us  all  the  evils  we  suffer, 
he  could  not  have  employed  language  more  affectionate, 
.nor  have  manifested  greater  solicitude  to  relieve  us.  Had 
he  descended  from  heaven  to  announce  only  this  single  in- 
vitation to  our  guilty  race,  it  is  so  graciously  adapted  to  our 
condition,  that  it  would  have  fully  justified  the  important 
mission,  and  ought  to  have  endeared  him  to  every  human 
heart. 

4.  If  the  gospel  be  regarded  as  a  temple  of  spiritual 
truth,  the  parables  of  our  Lord  may  be  compared  to  paint- 
ings with  which  he  has  adorned  the  walls,  and  by  which  he 
seeks  to  arrest  the  wandering  eye,  and  to  please  while 
he  instructs.  Among  these,  the  parable  of  the  prodigal 
son  never  fails  to  attract  and  impress.  The  errors  of  the 
wanderer,  his  sufferings,  his  bitter  tears,  his  penitential  re- 
turn, the  melting  heart  of  that  indulgent  parent,  who  ran 
to  welcome  to  his  arms,  and  weep  over,  his  long-lost  son ; 
how  many  eyes  have  looked  at  it  till  they  filled  with  tears  ; 
how  many  a  heart  has  melted  before  it ;  how  many  a  pen- 
itent has  it  first  inspired  with  hope.  It  makes  an  appeal, 
which  finds  a  responsive  chord,  of  one  kind  or  another,  in 
every  bosom.  It  is  always  fresh,  and  always  welcome  ; 
equally  affecting  us  in  infancy,  and  old  age. 

But  what  is  the  secret  of  its  subduing  influence  ?  It  is 
Hot  that  it  embodies  any  profound  philosophic  truth:  it 


366  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

evinces  no  desire  to  affect :  it  is  a  specimen  of  unlabored 
simplicity.  Much  of  its  power  is,  no  doubt,  to  be  ascribed 
to  that  graphic  minuteness  of  detail,  by  which  we  seem  plac- 
ed in  the  midst  of  the  scene  described,  and  to  become  spec- 
tators of  all  that  transpires.  But  it  appeals  to  more  than 
our  sympathy;  it  draws  in  our  heart,  and  creates  in  it  all 
the  interest  of  a  personal  event.  The  truth  is,  it  is  a  pic- 
ture of  the  prodigal  and  ruined  world  come  to  itself,  la- 
menting its  wretchedness,  and  retracing  its  wanderings 
back  to  God.  It  represents  the  meeting  of  misery  with 
compassion ;  the  communing  of  penitent  wretchedness 
with  all-sufficient  grace;  of  our  lost  humanity  with  that 
infinite  love,  which  received  and  embraced  our  guilty  na- 
ture, and  even  adopted  it  into  the  person  of  Christ.  The 
parable  is  an  epitome  of  the  spiritual  history  of  the  whole 
church  ;  so  that  every  individual  member  beholds  in  it  an 
image  of  the  most  affecting  parts  of  his  own  life. 

And  what  an  insight  does  it  give  us  into  the  depths  of 
our  Lord's  benevolent  character  !  We  feel  that  we  are 
listening  to  a  party  concerned ;  he  presents  us  with  his 
heart  in  almost  every  sentence  ;  nor  ia»  it  easy  to  conceive 
that  he  uttered  it  without  tears.  And  the  view  which  it 
gives  us  of  his  benevolence  is  further  enhanced,  when  we 
think  of  the  object  for  which  he  uttered  it :  he  sought  to 
promote  repentance,  to  encourage  that  change  by  which 
the  sinner  comes  to  himself;  not  merely  by  depicting  the 
paternal  compassion  of  God,  but  by  representing  it  as  an 
occasion  of  joy  to  angels,  and  to  every  order  of  holy  intel- 
ligence in  the  universe.  From  a  perusal  of  this,  and  the 
two  parables  connected  with  it,  he  would  have  the  peni- 
tent to  believe,  that  in  going  to  God  for  mercy  he  is  occa- 
sioning a  joy  which,  beginning  at  the  centre  of  all  benev- 
olence— the  heart  of  the  eternal  Father — circulates  through 
all  ranks  of  holy  existences,  to  the  utmost  circumference 
of  the  spiritual  creation. 


HIS    TENDERNERS    AND    BFNEVOLENCE,  367 

5.  There  are  numerous  passages  in  our  Lord's  discour- 
ses in  which,  as  the  representative  of  his  people,  he  de- 
scribes himself  as  personally  affected  by  all  that  befals 
them — a  sentiment  which  can  only  be  resolved  into  that 
enlarged  benevolence  which  identifies  him  with  all  piety. 
He  reproved  the  errors  and  sins  of  the  Jews,  with  the  in- 
dignant sensibility  of  one  who  felt  himself  personally 
wronged  and  dishonored  by  them.  He  spoke  of  the  weak- 
est believer  as  his  other  self:  resenting  his  wrongs,  and 
adopting  the  favors  shown  him  as  his  own.  After  often 
repeating  this  sentiment,  and  presenting  it  in  various  lights, 
he  raised  it  to  a  climax  in  the  declaration,  /that,  in  the  last 
great  day,  he  will*  pronounce  concerning  every  action  rela- 
ting to  them  ;  'ye  did  it  unto  me ;  or  ye  did  it  not  unto  me} 
If  sympathy  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  kind  of  substitution,  by 
which  we  are  put  into  the  place  of  another,  and  affected  in 
many  respects  as  he  is  affected,  then  what  shall  we  think 
of  the  sympathy  of  Christ,  which  never  allows  him  to  re- 
main an  indifferent  spectator  of  any  thing  his  people  may 
suffer.  Virtue  cannot  receive  the  slightest  wound,  of 
which  he  does  not  instantly  feel  the  smart.  He  is  the 
great  sympathetic  nerve  of  the  church,  over  which  all  the 
oppressions  and  sufferings  of  his  people  distinctly  pass: 
nor  does  that  mysterious  instrument  of  sensation  in  the 
human  body  convey  more  correctly  to  the  sensorium  a 
sense  of  the  condition  of  the  extremest  part  of  the  frame, 
than  the  benevolence  of  Jesus,  who  is  the  sensorium  of  the 
spiritual  universe,  apprehends,  and  sympathizes  with  the 
least  emotion  of  suffering  in  his  body  the  church. 

6.  *  And  when  he  was  come  near,  he  beheld  the  city, 
and  wept  over  it,  saying,  If  thou  hadst  known,  even  thou, 
at  least  in  this  thy  day,  the  things  which  belong  unto  thy 
peace!  but  now  they  are  hid  from  thine  eyes.'  Often  had 
he  approached  Jerusalem  before  by  the  same  road,  and  gaz- 


368  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

ed  on  it  from  the  same  spot;  and  we  may  suppose,  had 
looked  on  it  with  emotions  of  unutterable  concern  ;  for 
oh  !  Jerusalem  was  endeared  to  him  by  ties  unimagined 
by  man.  But  now  he  was  approaching  it  for  the  last 
time  ;  and  he  paused  to  take  a  final  look.  He  knew  that 
his  entrance  within  its  gates  would  be  the  signal  for  filling 
up  the  measure  of  its  guilt ;  and  therefore  he  lingered  a 
moment,  as  if  to  respite  its  doom:  the  Sun  of  righteous- 
ness lingered  a  moment  on  Mount  Olivet,  as  if  to  prolong 
for  it  that  day  of  grace  made  by  his  own  immediate  beams. 
He  had  before  asked  for  it  'another  year,'  that  he  might 
make  on  it  fresh  experiments  of  mercy  ;  and  now  he  gra- 
ciously vouchsafed  it  another  moment.  And  as  he  stood 
and  gazed  on  it,  his  mind  filled  with  affecting  recollections 
of  the  past ;  the  future  rose  to  his  prophetic  eye,  crowded 
with  scenes  of  guilt  and  woe;  while  both  became  aggra- 
vated by  the  afflicting  thought,  that  all  his  generous  efforts 
to  save  it  were  defeated,  and  would  only  serve  to  enhance 
its  doom. 

His  comprehensive  mind  reverted  to  the  past ;  he  re- 
membered the  days  of  old,  '  when  Israel  was  holiness  to 
the  Lord.'  He  could  not  forget  that  Judea  had  for  ages 
been  the  ark  of  religion,  wherfe  the  knowledge  of  Jehovah 
had  been  preserved  and  cherished,  when  lost  by  all  the 
world  besides ;  that  it  was  filled  with  the  mementoes  of 
prophets  arid  miracles  ;  that  it  had  been  the  birth-place  of 
men  of  whom  the  world  was  not  worthy ;  that  its  paths 
had  been  trod  by  angel-feet ;  that  its  dust  was  hallowed, 
its  very  soil  sacred  to  God.  He  thought  of  the  temple, 
where  devotion  had  for  so  many  ages  felt  itself  nearer 
heaven  ;  where  the  bleeding  sacrifice  had  daily  testified 
of  human  guilt  and  divine  placability;  where  successive 
generations  had  communed  with  God  from  off  the  mercy- 
seat;  and  multitudes  had  found  the  gat^  of  heaven,  But 


HIS    TENDERNESS    AND    BENEVOLENCE.  369 

these  recollections  pleasing  in  themselves,  were  embitter- 
ed by  the  remembrance  of  the  guilt  they  necessarily  re- 
called— ages  of  accumulated  guilt.   The  Lord  had  sent  unto 
them  his  prophets,  'rising  early  and  sending  them ;'    but 
'they  beat  one  and  killed  another  and  stoned  another.'     It 
could  not  be  that  a  prophet  should  perish  out  of  Jerusalem. 
It  was  saturated  with    'the blood  of  all  the  prophets,  down 
to  the  blood  of  Zacharias  son    of  Barachias,   whom  they 
slew  between  the  temple  and  the  altar.'     And  now  he  knew 
that  it  was  thirsting  after  his  own  blood.     For  more  than 
a  thousand  years  it  had  enjoyed  the  peculiar  regards  of 
heaven  !  yet,  with  all  his  compassion  for  it  in  lively  exercise, 
the   benevolent  Jesus  could    not  but  see  that  it  was    the 
grave  of  hope,  the  vortex  of  all  piety.       For  three  years 
now,  he  himself  had  come  seeking  fruit,  and  finding  none. 
During   that  period,   his  preaching  and  miracles  had  but 
this  one  object — the  instruction  and  salvation  of  its  thank- 
less and  disobedient  people.     How  solemnly  had  he  warn- 
ed them,  how  graciously  invited  them,  how  anxiously   la- 
bored to  convince  them   that  he  was  the  Hope  of  Israel, N 
their  promised  Messiah.     For  them  he  had  toiled,  and  trav- 
elled, and  interceded,  and  spent  himself  in  self-consuming 
privations.     For   their  sakes  he  had  made  himself  of  no 
reputation,  and  had  taken  upon  him  the  form  of  a  servant. 
When  driven  from  Jerusalem  by  persecution,  exiled  by 
bitter  hate,  he  carried  their  welfare  with  him  in  his  heart, 
and  soon  he  returned  to  them  again  with  a  kindness  which 
seemed  to  increase  by  ingratitude.     They  formed  the  sole 
object  of  his  tenderest  solicitude,  the  essence  of  his  daily 
thought.     For  them  every  pulse   of  his  heart  had  beaten, 
and  for  them   that   heart   was  ready  to  pour  forth  its  vital 
blood.     He  had  done  every  thing  that  could  be  done,  con- 
sistently with  his  own  perfections  and  with  the   liberty  of 
accountable    creatures,  but  in  vain.      On    them  the    ob- 
23 


370  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

ject  of  his  mission  was  entirely  lost.  He  knew  that  at  that 
moment  they  were  passing  his  destruction  into  a  law.  He 
looked  down  on  the  guilty  city  ;  and,  behold,  it  resembled 
a  vast  chauldron  filled  and  fermenting  with  all  infernal  pas- 
sions, of  which  he  was  to  be  the  devoted  victim. 

But,  with  the  self-denying  love  of  a  patriot,  and  the 
grace  of  a  Saviour,  he  looked  beyond  the  spectacle  of  his 
own  sufferings,  and  fixed  his  eye  upon  theirs;  he  could 
view  them  only  through  an  atmosphere  of  compassion. 
And  oh  !  what  an  appeal  to  his  pity  was  there.  Clouds 
of  wrath  were  gathering  over  Jerusalem  from  every  quar- 
ter of  heaven,  fraught  with  materials  of  destruction  such 
as  none  but  a  divine  hand  could  collect:  his  own  blood, 
by  which  he  had  graciously  meant  to  wash  away  their 
guilt,  calling  with  a  voice  not  to  be  denied,  for  the  ministers 
of  justice  to  arm ;  all  things  on  earth  and  in  heaven  mus- 
tering and  disposing  for  their  doom.  He  looked  again  ; 
and,  lo  the  city,  his  city,  was  beleaguered  and  lost ;  Jeru- 
salem lay  bleeding  at  his  feet;  the  harpy  nations  had  tak- 
en their  prey  ;  her  dwellings  of  holiness  were  laid  waste  ; 
and  the  sound  of  her  expiring  lament,  drowning  even  the 
voice  of  justice  itself,  pierced  his  heart,  and  drew  from  him 
words  in  which  all  his  soul  came  forth  ;  *  If  thou  hadst 
known,  even  thou,  at  least  in  this  thy  day,  the  things  which 
belong  unto  thy  peace  !  but  now  they  are  hid  from  thine 
eyes.1 

The  exclamation  regarded  as  a  sentence,  is  interrupted 
and  incomplete  ;  but  who  does  not  see  that  it  is  both  in- 
terrupted, and  completed,  by  tears — tears  which  are  the  nat- 
ural language  of  compassion,  and  which  express  its  in- 
tenseness  beyond  all  words.  But  he  not  only  thought  of 
the  past,  and  surveyed  the  future,  he  evidently  glanced  also 
at  a  pleasing  picture  of  what  the  present  might  have  been ; 
and  then  the  hiatus  is  to  be  regarded  as  filled  up  with  a  si- 


HIS    TENDERNESS    AND    BENEVOLENCE.  371 

lent  reflection  on  what  would  have  heen  the  happy  results 
had  Jerusalem  accepted  his  mission.     The  lingering  con- 
templation of  the  same  blessed  possibility  is  apparent  also 
in  his  subsequent  exclamation  ;  '  O  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem, 
thou  that  kiiiest  the  prophets,  and    stonest  them  who  are 
sent  unto  thee,  how  often  would  I  have  gathered  thy  chil- 
dren together,  even  as  a  hen  gathereth  her  chickens  under 
her  wings,  and  ye  would  not!  '     Had  the  nation  apprecia- 
ted his  character,  and  sympathized  with  his  mission,    how 
different   we  may  suppose,  his  conduct  would  have  been, 
and  how  changed  the  history  of  his  early  life.     The  Jew- 
ash  economy  might  have  died  a  glorious  death,  full  of  days 
and  full  of  honors.     Instead  of  entering  the  temple  to  de- 
nounce and  to  scourge,  he  might  have  gone  to  explain,  and 
to  apply  to  himself,  its  ancient  rites ;  to  make  known  the 
termination  of  its  service ;  and  to  pronounce,  in  the  hear- 
ing of  the  great  congregation,  its  funeral  eulogium.     In- 
stead of  being  hated,  persecuted,  and  ignominiously  put  to 
death  as   the  victim  of  malice,  he   might  have  assembled 
.the  tribes  by  proclamation :  have  lifted  up  his  voice  and 
explained  to  their  breathless  attention,  the  doctrine  of  the 
atonement ;  have  opened  their  understanding  and  disclos- 
ed the  amazing  fact,  that  the  principle  of  vicarious  suffering, 
which  ran  through  the  whole  of  their  economy,  was  now 
to  terminate   and  triumph  in  his  own  peculiar  death  for 
man  :  and  then,  amidst    the  tears  and    sympathies  of  the 
world,  he   might  have  ascended  Calvary — or  even  the  al- 
tar of  sacrifice  itself—and  there  he  might  have  been  visi- 
bly smitten  by  the  immediate  sword  of  justice  ;  while  an- 
gels, bending  over  the  mysterious  scene,  would  have  point' 
ed  each  other  to  his  blood,  and  said, '  Behold,    how  he  lov- 
ed them.'     Instead  of  retiring  into  Galilee  when  he  arose 
from  the  dead  he  might  have  shown  himself  openly  to  all 
the  people  :  he  might  once  more  have  entered  the  temple, 


372  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

where  *  Moses  and  Ellas,'  as  the  representatives  of  the 
Jewish  church,  might  have  resigned  into  his  hands  the 
trust  which  it  had  held  for  the  human  race;  and,  investing 
him  with  the  insignia  of  prophet,  priest,  and  king,  have 
hailed  him  as  the  Hope  of  Israel,  and  the  Surety  of  the 
world.  '  Oh  that  his  people  had  heakened  unto  him,  and 
Israel  had  walked  in  his  ways  !  '  • 

It  is  true,  the  contrary  was  foreseen  ;  every  step  he  took 
was  calculated  and  arranged  on  the  distinct  foreknowledge 
of  his  rejection  ;  the  wickedness  of  his  enemies  was  inter- 
woven into  the  texture  of  the  divine  plans  concerning  him. 
But  his  rejection  was  necessitated  only  by  their  own  de- 
pravity, Had  their  blinding  unbelief  permitted  them  to 
*  know  him,  they  could  not  have  crucified  the  Lord  of  glo- 
ry.' The  morn  of  mercy  would  have  arisen  cloudless  on 
the  world.  He  would  have  made  the  temple  the  cradle 
of  Christianity,  the  rendezvous  of  piety  to  all  nations,  the 
sanctuary  of  the  world,  Jerusalem  should  have  arisen  as 
a  stately  palm,  towering  to  heaven,  and  seen  to  the  ends  of 
the  earth,  distilling  balm  for  the  healing  of  the  nations,  and 
wafting  its  fragrance  as  incense  through  the  skies;  relig- 
ion should  have  built  her  palaces  in  its  shadow ;  it  should 
have  been  the  joy  of  the  whole  earth. 

How  often  would  he  have  done  this,  and  more  than  this, 
for  his  beloved  Jerusalem ;  gathering  her  children  under 
his  fostering  care,  and  making  her  the  abode  of  heavenly 
glory.  But,  alas,  this  was  only  a  vision — as  the  name 
Jerusalem  imports  a  vision  of  peace  :  and  now  it  was  both 
hid  from  her  eyes,  and  vanished  from  his.  He  would  have 
turned  the  vision  into  reality ;  but  she  would  not,  she  thrust 
him  from  her.  Painful  indeed  is  the  situation  of  the  patriot 
who  is  condemned  to  watch  the  exhausted  struggles  of  his 
country;  to  tend  it  during  its  alternate  paroxysms  of 
raving,  and  intervals  of  lethargic  stupefaction,  till,  one 


HIS    TENDERNESS    AND    BENEVOLENCE.  373 

by  one,  the  lingering  symptoms  of  life  have  disappeared, 
and  it  lies  prostrate  in  corruption,  and  trodden  under  foot 
of  the  nations.     But  here  was  more  than  a^patriot,  called 
to  mourn  over  the  desolation  of  his  land,  and  to  witness  the 
frustration  of  all    his  plans  for  saving  it;    here  was  the 
friend  of  sinners,  the  lover  of  human  souls,  called  to  con- 
template the  spiritual  perdition  of  a  whole  land,  and  that 
land  the  immediate  scene  of  his  godlike  labors.     He  could 
not  fail  to  be  deeply  affected   by  the  prospect  of  temporal 
sufferings :   but  what  were  they  compared  with  its  impend- 
ing spiritual  fate.     He  knew  the  history   of  sin  ;    he  had 
seen  it  in  its  awful  origin,  expelling  the  angels  from  heav- 
en, and  preparing  for  them  a  hell:    his  omnipresent  mind 
had  all  the  endless  consequences  of  sin  present  to  his  view. 
And    knowing  and  deploring  as  he  did  the  eternal  results 
of  the  least  sin,  how   inconceivably  great  must  his  emo- 
tions of  grief  and   compassion  have  been  at  the  sight  of  a 
whole  nation  of  human  beings,  for  whose  welfare,  at  any 
moment,  he  was  ready  to  become   a   curse,  destroyed  by 
the  vials  of  Almighty  displeasure,  and  perishing  under  a 
charge  of  guilt,  only  inferior  in  aggravation   to   the  guilt 
of  the  angels  that  kept  not  their  first  estate.     His  benevo- 
lent nature  recoiled    at  the   idea !     he  felt  as  if  he  could 
not  give  them  up,   could  not   see  them  consigned  to  such 
irretrievable  ruin  ;  as  if  even  now    it  was    not  too  late  to 
save  them  5  as  if  he  could  almost  have  saved  them,  even 
against  their    wills.      The   consideration  of  their  contin- 
ued   aggravated    guilt,    had,    we    might    have    supposed, 
drained  the  whole  passion  of  pity  from   his  nature  ;  but  at 
the  sight  of  that  coming  woe,  a  new  fountain  of  compas- 
sion opens  in  his  heart,  and  pours  itself  forth  in  an  unex- 
ampled gush  of  sympathy;  at  the  prospect  of  that  dread- 
ful scene,  that  type  of  the  terrors  of  the  judgment  day,  he 
hears  not  the  acclamations  of  the  surrounding  multitude, 


374  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

hailing  his  entrance  into  the  devoted  city,  thinks  not  of  his 
own  impending  death,  but  abandons  himself  to  sympathy  ; 
his  whole  nature  dissolves  into  compassion,  which  can  only 
find  vent  in  an  exclamation  in  which  he  poured  forth  the 
tears  of  his  heart,  '  O  that  thou  hadst  known,  even  thou, 
at  least  in  this  thy  day,  the  things  which  belong  unto  thy 
peace  !  but  now  they  are  hid  from  thine  eyes. 

Pitiable,  indeed,  must  be  the  state  of  that  mind  which 
can  find  itself  at  ease  to  debate  a  question  of  metaphysical 
divinity  in  the  presence  of  the  Redeemer's  tears.  Yet  there 
are  men  whose  creed  has  no  place  even  for  his  sacred 
grief;  who  are  actually  annoyed  at  these  tears  wept  over 
perishing  sinners,  as  at  heterodox  variance  with  the  divine 
d  ecrees;  whofrown  at  this  precious  distilment  of  infinite 
love,  as  inconsistent  with  their  views  of  divine  inflexibility. 
There  are  those  who  would  rather  these  tears  had  never 
been  shed,  or  that  the  record  of  the  burst  of  divine  com- 
passion should  be  expunged  from  the  sacred  page,  than 
that  it  should  remain  as  an  obstacle  to  their  logical  views 
of  the  divine  purposes.  But  we  linger  over  it  with  de- 
light ;  we  love  to  remain  within  the  softening  influence, 
the  hallowed  contagion  of  the  Redeemer's  tears  ;  we  bless 
him  for  them  ;  we  regard  the  melting  scene  as  only  infe- 
rior in  pathos,  in  tender  and  solemn  grandeur,  to  Calvary, 
itself. 

The  compassionate  exclamation  of  Jesus,  on  this  occa- 
sion, intimates  that  the  salvation  of  the  Jews  would  have 
been  more  agreeable  to  his  benevolent  nature  than  their 
destruction  :  that,  notwithstanding  this,  there  were  suffi- 
cient reasons  w7hy  his  omnipotence  should  not  interpose 
to  prevent  that  destruction;  that,  in  the  same  act,  justice, 
awful  and  unbending  justice,  may  denounce  destruction 
against  the  sinner,  while  benevolence  sympathizes  in  his 
misery  even  to  tears.  When  Jesus  afterwards  turned  to 


HIS    TENDERNESS    AND    BENEVOLENCE.  375 

the  mourning  daughters  of  Jerusalem  as  they  followed 
him  to  Calvary,  and  said,  *  Weep  not  for  me,  but  weep  for 
yourselves,'  he  sought,  by  that  admonition,  to  impress  them 
with  the  magnitude  of  the  calamity  which  awaited  them  : 
a  calamity  so  pregnant  with  woe,  that  had  all  the  tears 
shed  from  the  creation,  been  reserved  for  that  event,  had 
all  the  universe  joined  and  aided  them  in  the  mighty  grief, 
it  would  not  have  equalled  the  greatness  of  the  occasion. 
But  his  own  tears  should  affect  us  more  deeply  with  the 
greatness  of  the  calamity,  than  the  sight  of  all  creation  in 
tears.  To  think  that  Jesus  wept,  that  tears  fell  from  his 
eyes,  the  eyes  of  incarnate  perfection,  how  great  must  have 
been  the  calamity  which  occasioned  them,  the  calamity  of 
souls  lost,  immortal  natures  perishing  under  the  frown  of 
God.  And  he  would  encourage  us  to  infer,  that,  making 
the  necessary  allowance  for  the  difference  between  his 
earthly  and  his  heavenly  state,  his  nature  is  still  the  same; 
that  no  sinner  perishes  unpitied,  unlamented.  He  would 
have  the  ministers  of  his  gospel  to  mingle  their  appeals 
and  warnings  with  tears,  and  to  assure  the  impenitent  that 
if  they  finally  perish,  they  descend  into  perdition  bathed 
in  the  tears  of  his  divine  compassion. 

7.  What  an  affecting  illustration  of  the  tenderness  and 
benevolence  of  our  Lord's  teaching  do  we  find  in  his  vale- 
dictory discourse  U>  his  disciples  on  the  evening  prior  to 
his  crucifixion.*  He  was  about  to  leave  them.  He  had 
so  far  advanced  in  his  earthly  course,  that  he  was  now 
only  a  step  from  the  cross:  a  few  hours  more,  and  the 
pang  of  parting  from  their  Lord  must  be  endured.  Ten- 
der as  his  conduct,  and  gracious  as  his  intercourse  had  al- 
ways been,  he  had  evidently  reserved  the  outpouring  of  his 
heart  till  now.  He  sought  to  prepare  them  for  the  ap- 
proaching trial,  by  showing  them  that,  though  he  died,  he 
died  with  them  in  his  heart.  Addressing  them  in  terms 
*  Johnxiv.  xv.  xvi. 


376  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

of  gracious  endearment  such  as  they  had  never  listened 
to  before ;  and  such  as,  considering  the  circumstances  un- 
der which  they  were  uttered,  they  could  never  forget,  he 
took  them  into  a  new  region  of  truth :  expatiated  over 
fields  filled  with  the  products  of  infinite  love;  ranged  over 
ground  which  they  had  only  before  beheld  dimly  at  a  dis- 
tance, ground  which  brought  them  within  sight  of  the  gate 
of  heaven.  Often  had  he  spoke  to  them  as  never  man 
spake,  descanting  on  topics  which  it  had  not  entered  into 
the  heart  of  man  to  conceive;  but  he  now  led  them  into  a 
higher  department,  an  inner  chamber  of  truth  ;  he  now 
conducted  them  into  the  treasury  of  his  love,  displayed  be- 
fore them  his  resources  and  affluence,  pointed  out  the  costly 
gifts  which  he  meant  for  them,  and  even  invited  them  to 
select  and  appropriate  his  choicest  treasures.  He  drew 
them  close  to  himself;  afforded  them  the  nearest  inspec- 
tion of  his  character;  unbosomed  to  them  his  inmost  de- 
signs ;  showed  them  his  very  heart  with  all  their  names 
engraven  there,  and  all  their  interests  bound  up  and  made 
one  with  his  dearest  purposes,  and  with  the  glory  of  the 
Father. 

His  avowed  object  in  thus  addressing  them  was,  that 
'  his  joy  might  remain  in  them,  and  that  their  joy  might  be 
lull ;'  that  the  same  exalted  views  and  principles,  which 
had  sustained  and  actuated  him,  might  descend  to  them ; 
that  they  might  inherit  the  very  same  spiritual  property; 
that  it  might  be  entailed  on  his  church  for  ever,  and  yield 
to  his  people  in  all  generations  as  large  a  revenue  of  joy 
and  peace,  as,  in  proportion,  it  had  brought  to  him.  And, 
as  if  to  increase  the  pathos  of  this  touching  discourse,  he 
invested  it  with  circumstances  of  irresistible  tenderness' 
and  love.  He  uttered  it  in  the  presence  of  the  symbols  of 
his  death :  and  while  the  melting  sentence,  '  Do  this  in  re- 
membrance of  me,'  was  yet  sounding  in  their  ears.  And 


HIS  TENDERNESS  AND  BENEVOLENCE.       377 

he  immediately  followed  it  with  a  prayer  such  as,  till  then, 
heaven  had  never  received  from  earth — a  prayer  in  which 
he  seemed  unconscious  of  mortal  presence,  and  spoke  as 
if  he  had  never  left  the  bosom  of  the  Father — a  prayer  in 
which  he  asked,  with  the  largeness  and  confidence  of  one 
who  felt  that  he  had  established  a  claim  on  the  divine  re- 
sources, that  having  so  nearly  reached  the  cross,  he  was 
entitled  to  ask  what  he  would  :  and  all  he  asked  was  for 
his  disciples  ;  all  his  new  and  unmeasured  influence  at  the 
throne  of  grace  was  employed  for  them,  that  they  might 
enjoy  an  interest  in  all  his  perfections,  a  share  in  all  his 
glory — a  prayer  in  which  he  pleaded  as  if  he  had  already 
reached  the  altar  of  incense  above,  and  had  actually  enter- 
ed on  his  office  of  intercessor  there  ;  and  in  which  he  clasp- 
ed the  eternal  throne  as  if  he  would  save  his  people  by 
prayer  alone.  By  means  such  as  these  did  he  aim,  not 
merely  to  prepare  them  for  the  trial  of  his  approaching  de- 
parture, but  to  leave  his  image  impressed  on  all  their 
hearts,  to  bind  them  fast  to  himself  with  the  cords  of  love, 
to  assure  them  that,  henceforth  and  for  ever,  he  and  they 
were  one. 

8.  There  are  numerous  declarations, interspersed  through 
every  part  of  our  Lord's  discourses,  concerning  the  object 
of  his  advent,  in  \vhich  he  invites  us  to  listen  to  the  high- 
est strains  of  benevolence.  '  I  am  come,'  saith  he,  '  that 
they  might  have  life,  and  that  they  might  have  it  more 
abundantly.  I  am  the  bread  of  life.  I  am  the  good  shep- 
herd, and  lay  down  my  life  for  the  sheep.  Whoso  eateth 
my  flesh  and  drinketh  my  blood,  hath  eternal  life  ;  and  I 
will  raise  him  up  at  the  last  day.  As  Moses  lifted  up  the 
serpent  in  the  wilderness,  even  so  must  the  Son  of  man  be 
lifted  up:  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not  per- 
ish but  have  everlasting  life.  The  Son  of  man  is  come 
to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was  lost ;  to  give  himself  a 


378  THE      GREAT       TEACHER. 

ransom  for  many :  to  shed  his  blood  for  many  for  the  re- 
mission of  sins.'  These  passages  form  part  of  a  numer- 
ous class :  and  we  have  reserved  them  till  now,  as  exhibit- 
ing the  benevolence  of  Christ,  in  its  highest  and  most 
comprehensive  form;  for  they  disclose  both  his  purposes 
of  grace,  and  the  costly  means  by  which  he  effects  them. 

They  teach  us,  that,  in  saving  man,  he  is  obeying  the 
spontaneous  dictates,  and  gratifying  the  compassionate 
yearnings  of  his  own  heart.  He  assumed  life  for  the  ex- 
press purpose  of  laying  it  down.  He  showed  that  his 
heart  was  full  of  a  purpose  formed  from  eternity.  No 
scene  of  trial  could  take  him  by  surprise;  no  hour  of  suf- 
fering tound  him  unprepared.  He  saw  as  from  a  height 
the  whole  array  of  duty  and  trial  which  awaited  him  ;  and 
the  only  emotion  he  evinced  at  the  sight,  was  a  self-con- 
suming ardor  to  reach  the  cross  which  stood  at  the  end  o^ 
his  path,  a  holy  impatience  to  be  baptized  with  the  bap- 
tism of  blood.  And  when  his  hour  was  come,  the  myste- 
rious manner  in  which  he  surrendered  up  his  life  on  the 
cross — breathing  it  forth — giving  it  up — parting  with  it 
as  a  free-will  offering  to  God — evinced  the  truth  of  his 
own  declaration,  '  No  man  taketh  it  from  me,  I  lay  it  down 
f  myself. 

'  For  their  sakes,'  said  he,  *  I  sanctify  myself;'  and  he 
did  so,  he  devoted  himself  exclusively  to  the  cause  of  hu- 
man salvation  ;  it  occupied  his  thoughts  from  the  first  mo- 
ment to  the  last  of  his  continuance  upon  earth.  All  the 
paths  of  human  ambition  were  open  and  accessible  to  him, 
but  he  passed  them  all  by.  All  the  kingdoms  of  the  world, 
and  the  glory  of  them  were  laid  at  his  feet,  but  he  saw 
them  as  if  he  saw  them  not.  With  a  single  sentence  he 
could  have  flashed  light  on  the  darkest  mysteries  of  phi- 
losophy; but  he  would  not  thus  debase  his  mission,  he 
would  not  spare  a  single  moment  from  teaching  that  high- 


HIS  TENDERNESS  AND  BENEVOLENCE.       379 

er  science,  the  knowledge  of  salvation.  He  had  ears  only 
for  one  sound — and  that  was  the  voice  of  penitence,  im- 
ploring forgiveness :  the  voice  of  fear  and  conscious  guilt 
deprecating  the  vengeance  of  eternal  fire,  and  crying  for 
relief.  He  had  eyes  only  for  one  sight — and  that  was  the 
misery  of  man  ;  the  spectacle  of  a  world  invaded,  ruined, 
lost,  and  moving  along  in  chains  to  the  pit  of  perdition. 
This  object  filled  the  whole  sphere  of  his  vision  ;  he  could 
see  nothing  else;  and  had  all  the  thrones  of  earth  been 
vacant,  and  invited  his  acceptance,  it  would  not  have  induc- 
ed him  to  diverge  a  single  step  from  the  path  which  led 
direct  to  the  cross.  He  had  tears  but  for  one  sorrow  ;  and 
he  wept  them  over  lost  souls.  He  valued  life  itself  but 
for  one  object ;  as  it  enabled  him  to  present  it  in  sacrifice 
for  human  redemption. 

The  key  to  all  his  conduct  is  love  ;  this  is  the  principle 
by  which  he  invites  us  to  interpret  all  his  earthly  history ; 
and  which  is  found  to  explain  it  all,  while  itself  remains 
inexplicable.  Such  is  the  property  of  sympathy,  that  even 
in  ordinary  cases,  it  impels  us  to  enact  a  kind  of  mental 
substitution,  imparting  to  us  the  feelings,  and  placing  us  in 
the  situation  of  the  party  with  whom  we  sympathize.  But 
such  was  the  power  of  the  Saviour's  compassion,  that  it 
impelled  him  to  enact  a  real  substitution  !  it  gave  him  our 
nature.  Under  its  mighty  impulse,  he  took  our  place  in 
the  universe:  invited  the  government  of  God  to  treat  him 
as  the  representative  of  the  human  race;  absorbed  our  in- 
terest ;  opened  his  bosom,  and  Welcomed  to  his  heart  the 
stroke  which  we  had  deserved.  And  having  thus  answer- 
ed our  liabilities,  and  honored  the  claims  of  injured  justice 
he  is  rewarded  with  all  the  means  and  the  power  of  salva- 
tion. Having  offered  to  God  a  perfect  sacrifice  as  the  sub- 
stitute for  man,  he  is  now  to  be  regarded  as  offering  a  per- 
fect salvation  to  us  as  the  substitute  for  God.  And  in  mak- 


380  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

ing  these  overtures  of  infinite  grace,  every  word  he  utters 
breathes  of  compassion  that  will  not  be  denied. 

9.  In  further  illustration  of  the  tenderness  and  benevo- 
lence which  distinguished  our  Lord's  instructions,  we 
might  adduce  the  universality  of  his  offers  of  mercy.  He 
could  not  contemplate,  without  deep  solicitude,  the  exclu- 
sion of  any  from  the  blessings  of  his  grace  ;  to  satisfy  the 
cravings  of  his  benevolence,  all  must  love  him,  and  be  be- 
loved by  him-  We  might  refer  to  the  relations  which  he 
represented  himself  as  assuming  and  sustaining  ;  for  in 
him  the  tenderness  of  the  shepherd,  the  affection  of  the  pa- 
rent, and  the  grace  of  the  Saviour,  are  combined.  We 
might  point  to  the  attractive  epithets  which  he  applied  to 
the  blessings  of  his  grace ;  not  contenting  himself  with 
merely  announcing  these  blessings,  but  aiming  to  excite 
our  desire  to  possess  them  by  describing  them  in  the  most 
alluring  terms.  Nor  should  we  omit  to  mention,  for  the 
same  end,  the  characteristic  tenderness  of  the  topics  on 
which  he  delighted  to  dilate.  He  loved  to  dwell  on  the 
paternal  character  of  God;  it  was  a  view  which  formed 
his  own  consolation  and  joy  through  every  stage  of  his 
earthly  course,  and  he  essayed  to  conduct  his  people  to  the 
same  fountain  of  delight.  Prayer  was  a  suLject  frequent- 
ly on  his  lips-  His  heart  was  set.  on  bringing  about  an 
interview  between  God  and  man  ;  for  he  knew  it  must  lead 
to  the  reconciliation  of  the  parties;  he  knew  that  if  he 
could  but  bring  us  to  the  footstool  of  mercy,  all  would  be 
well.  Hence  the  attractions  with  which  he  has  invested 
the  throne  of  grace;  assuring  us  that  we  go  there  invited 
and  expected  as  his  friends  ;  hence,  the  unalienable  char- 
ter of  prayer,  which,  sprinkled  with  his  own  blood,  he  has 
placed  in  our  hands  :  promising  to  exercise  all  the  good 
within  the  compass  of  omnipotence  to  bestow,  and  urging 
it  in  terms  of  gracious  encouragement,  to  which  nothing 


HIS    TENDERNESS    AND    BENEVOLENCE.  381 

consistently  with  the  divine  dignity,  could  he  added.  How 
evidently  was  he  gratifying  his  own  mind,  while  expatiat- 
ing on  the  doctrine  of  divine  influence;  offering  the  Holy 
Spirit  as  the  free  gift  of  God  ;  promising  his  presence  as 
the  abiding  Comforter ;  and  enlarging  on  the  great  and 
certain  advantages  of  dwelling  in  the  element  of  his  light 
and  love.  How  visibly  congenial  to  his  taste  was  the  top- 
ic of  brotherly  love;  it  formed  the  subject  of  his  new  com- 
mand, of  his  frequent  admonition,  and  occupied  a  principal 
part  of  his  intercessory  prayer.  He  might  justly  have  en- 
grossed the  love  of  his  people  to  himself ;  but,  no,  he  waiv- 
ed his  own  right,  and  said,  '  Love  one  another.'  Such  is 
the  superiority  of  his  claims  on  their  hearts,  that  no  other 
being  could  justly  demand  a  share,  until  they  had  rendered 
to  him  his  due  ;  and  this  would  never  have  been.  But  he 
graciously  dispensed  with  his  own  interest,  consenting  to 
take  the  love  they  owe  to  him,  in  the  form  of  love  to  each 
other.  Like  a  father  Idoking  on  his  assembled  children, 
while  kissing  and  embracing  each  other  in  the  first  fond 
essay  of  love,  he  is  content,  for  the  time,  to  witness  their 
mutual  regard,  without  being  the  immediate  object  of  it. 
He  loved  to  contemplate  his  church  as  a  community  of 
hearts,  cemented  by  attachment  to  a  common  object,  and 
thus  rendered  one.  For  this  he  prayed  with  an  earnest- 
ness that  would  not  be  denied,  '  that  they  all  might  be  one ;' 
that  they  might  form  a  church  in  whose  capacious  bosom 
there  should  be  but  one  heart  to  sway  all  its  motions,  and 
direct  all  its  actions,  emulating  the  harmonious  movements 
of  the  blessed ;  a  heart  which  should  beat  in  concert  with 
heaven,  and  whose  every  pulse  should  diffuse  life,  and 
health,  and  joy  to  the  remotest  members  of  the  body. 

10.  Nor  were  the  tenderness  and  benevolence  of  Christ 
ahated,  either  by  the  lapse  of  time,  or  the  perseverance  of 
human  ingratitude.  His  kindness  exhibited  no  tendency 


382  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

to  degenerate  into  mere  professional  sympathy ;  nor  had 
the  malice  of  those  who  seized  his  out-stretched  hand,  and 
hailed  it  to  the  cross,  any  other  visible  effect  than  that  of 
inducing  him  to  hasten  the  work  of  saving  them  from 
themselves,  and  from  hell.  The  superiority  to  ingratitude 
which  some  exhibit,  arises  from  a  defect  in  the  constitution 
of  their  nature,  by  which  they  are  armed  with  a  degree  of 
Insensibility  to  wrongs,  sufficient  to  blunt  the  weapons  of 
unkindness.  But  the  sensibilities  of  Christ  were  of  the 
most  acute  description :  for  in  him  were  harmonized  all 
that  is  great  in  mind,  noble  in  sentiment,  and  delicate  in 
feeling;  his  nature  exhibited  the  perfection  of  humanity. 
And  during  the  whole  of  his  continuance  on  earth,  his 
sensibilities  were  all  in  excitement  and  activity;  for  wher- 
ever he  looked  he  saw  man  was  perishing  ;  and  yet  wher- 
ever he  turned  he  saw  man,  the  object  of  his  tender  solici- 
tude, requiting  his  compassion  with  a  fixed  frown  of  hos- 
tility and  defiance.  The  conduct  of  man  made  a  constant 
demand  on  his  forbearance,  a  perpetual  drain  on  his  pity, 
sufficient  to  exhaust  every  heart  but  one,  which  was  daily 
replenished  at  the  fountain  of  compassion  itself.  He  en- 
dured,  at  times,  paroxysms  of  anguish  so  great,  that  no 
compound  of  mortal  elements,  unless  supernaturally  sus- 
tained, could  by  any  possibility  have  out-lived  them.  There 
is  abundant  reason  to  believe  that  his  course  would  have 
been  much  sooner  run,  that  he  would  have  fallen  exhaust- 
ed in  body  and  mind  before  the  cross  was  reached,  had  he 
not  lived  in  immediate  communication  with  a  hidden  source 
from  whence  he  drew  daily  re-inforcements  of  strength. 
Thus  supplied  and  sustained,  '  he  failed  not,  nor  was  dis- 
couraged ;'  his  affections  maintained  their  freshness  and 
youth  ;  his  tender  and  feeling  eloquence,  and  his  holy  sen- 
sibilities went  on  increasing  even  to  the  last. 

On  arising  from  the  dead,  it  appears  as  if  his  first  con- 


HIS  TENDERNESS  AND  BENEVOLENCE.      383 

cern  was  to  convince  his  apostles  of  his  undiminished  re- 
gard for  them  ;  to  prove  to  them  that  he  had  returned  from 
the  grave  with  the  same  heart  with  which  he  had  died. 
Often  had  he  spoken  to  them  before,  as  if  he  would  not 
merely  win  their  souls  to  him,  but  breathe  his  soul  into 
them  ;  and  now  he  actually  did  so  ;  'he  breathed  on  themr 
and  said,  Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost ;'  he  imparted  to  them, 
his  own  spirit.  He  had  been  accustomed  to  call  them  his 
disciples  and  servants.  On  the  evening  prior  to  his  cruci- 
fixion, as  if  his  affection  for  them  increased,  the  nearer  the 
hour  of  separation  approached,  as  if  he  desired  to  draw 
closer  the  bands  of  affection  before  he  left  them,  he  called 
them  his  friends  ;  '  henceforth,'  said  he,  *  I  call  you  riot  ser- 
vants but -friends.'  And  then  it  was  not  till  after  his  res- 
urrection that  he  drew  the  cords  of  love  still  closer,  and 
called  them  his  brethren  ;  *  Go,  tell  my  brethren,'  said  h£r 
*that  they  meet  me  in  Galilee.'  'Go  to  my  brethren,  and 
say  to  them ;  I  ascend  to  my  Father,  and  your  Father,  to 
my  God,  and  your  God.'  Thus  he  reserved  the  tenderest 
appellation  for  the  last ;  as  though  he  would  provide  against 
all  their  suspicions  and  fears  that  he  would  forget  them  as 
he  rose  in  dignity  and  power,  by  showing  them  that  he  lov- 
ed them  the  more,  the  more  he  did  for  them,  and  the  more- 
he  became  capable  of  blessing  them ;  and,  whatever  the 
dignity  to  which  he  might  be  raised,  he  would  value  that 
dignity  chiefly  as  it  gave  him  the  power  of  blessing  them, 
and  of  raising  them  to  a  joint  participation  of  his  glory. 
'  And  he  led  them  out  as  far  as  to  Bethany,  and  he  lifted  up 
his  hands  and  blessed  them.  And  it  came  to  pass,  while  he 
blessed  them,  he  was  parted  from  them,  and  carried  up  into- 
heaven.'  This  divine  arrangement  was  undoubtedly 
meant  to  be  as  significant  as  the  gracious  benediction  he 
was  pronouncing.  It  taught  his  disciples  that  he  carried 
their  interest  with  him  to  heaven  ;  and  that  his  occupation 


384  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

there  would  be  only  a  continuation  of  his  employment 
here — the  godlike  work  of  blessing  them.  He  meant  to 
cheer  them  with  the  impression  that  his  departure  to  heav- 
en, far  from  terminating  his  ability  to  bless  them,  would 
augment  that  power :  that  the  intercession  which  he  had 
begun  on  earth,  he  went  to  carry  on  and  complete  in  the 
immediate  presence  of  the  eternal  throne. 

His  kindness  to  his  disciples  only  corresponded  with 
the  grace  of  his  conduct  towards  the  guilty  city.  He  com- 
manded them,  'tha^  repentance  and  remission  of  sins 
should  be  preached  in  his  name,  among  all  nations,  begin- 
ning at  Jerusalem}  Could  tears  have  washed  away  the 
crimson  guilt  of  its  inhabitants,  they  would  now  have 
needed  no  remission ;  for  over  them  the  Man  of  sorrows 
had  dissolved  into  grief.  Could  kindness  have  melted  or 
moved  them,  they  would  not  now  have  required  an  exhor- 
tation to  repentance:  for  his  last  anguish  on  the  cross  in- 
cluded a  pang  of  compassion  for  them  :  and  for  them  he 
had  saved  his  latest  breath  to  pray,  *  Father  forgive  them  ; 
for  they  know  not  what  they  do.'  But  their  impenitence  was 
triumphant.  Yet  no  sooner  does  he  find  himself  in  a  ca- 
pacity to  bless,  than  he  exercises  the  prerogative  in  bless- 
ing them.  We  might  almost  as  soon  have  expected  that 
he  would  have  sent  his  gospel  to  be  proclaimed  over  the 
mouth  of  perdition  as  to  Jerusalem  the  hell  of  earth.  At 
least,  we  should  have  expected  to  see  it  making  the  circuit 
of  the  earth  before  it  came  there ;  to  hear  him  directing 
his  apostles  to  wait  till  his  immediate  enemies  had  descend- 
ed to  the  grave  ;  to  visit  Jerusalem  last.  But  the  course 
of  his  grace  admits  not  of  human  calculation;  for  he 
sends  them  to  Jerusalem  first.  While  the  eyes  of  his 
enemies  are  yet  gleaming  with  the  fire  of  triumphant  re- 
venge, he  commissions  his  apostles  to  hasten  and  open 
the  charter  of  redemption  within  sight  of  Calvary ;  to 


HIS    TENDERNESS    AND    BENEVOLENCE.  385 

let  them  know  that,  whatever  they  might  have  drawn  from 
his  heart,  his  love  for  them  remains  there  still  j  to  assure 
them  that  there  is  one  mode  of  inflicting  on  him  greater 
pain  than  even  that  of  employing  the  cross — by  obstinately 
refusing  the  blessings  which  his  cross  has  procured.  But, 
O,  there  is  an  exalted  sense,  in  which  this  act  of  grace  to 
Jerusalem  is  only  to  be  regarded  as  a  type  of  his  benevo- 
lence to  the  world  at  large ;  an  affected  rehearsal  on  a 
limited  scale,  of  that  great  dispensation  of  mercy  which 
selects  for  its  objects  the  chief  transgressors  of  every  age, 
and  traverses  the  world  in  quest  of  those  whose  lives  have 
been  spent  in  'crucifying  the  Son  of  God  afresh,  and  put- 
ting him  to  an  open  shame.' 

Accordingly,  his  last  injunction  to  his  apostles  was  to 
preach  salvation  in  his  name  to  every  creature.  His  final 
act  on  earth  was  to  make  the  world  the  heirs  of  his  grace ; 
to  leave  behind  him  in  trust  the  conveyance  of  his  salva- 
tion to  all  mankind.  He  had  now  contemplated  man  from 
various  and  affecting  points:  and  from  each  point,  the  as- 
pect presented  to  view  was  calculated  to  try  his  love  in  a 
new  and  peculiar  manner.  From  heaven  he  had  beheld 
us  falling  by  myriads  into  perdition  :  but  awful  as  the  sight 
was,  it  was  only  the  natural  result  of  guilt,  so  great  as  to 
make  even  the  earth  itself  to  loathe  us.  He  clothed  him- 
self with  love,  and  descended  into  the  midst  of  us ;  offer- 
ing himself  and  his  glory  to  the  service  of  man  ;  but  he 
had  beheld  us  instantly  league  and  arm  against  him,  mak- 
ing common  cause  with  hell  in  the  work  of  his  destruction. 
He  had  earnestly  gazed  on  us  from  the  cross ;  and  what 
was  the  spectacle  he  beheld  immediately  before  him,  but  a 
group  of  maniac  fiends,  yelling  a  song  of  triumph  at  hav- 
ing compassed  his  death?  And  now,  at  the  moment  of 
his  departure,  as  he  pierced  the  future,  he  saw  his  humil- 
iation continued  and  perpetuated  through  every  succeeding 
24 


386  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

age,  and  every  variety  of  form  ;  he  beheld  the  enmity  o 
the  carnal  mind,  true  to  its  character,  daily  enacting 
afresh  the  ignominious  scenes  of  Calvary  down  to  the 
close  of  time.  Yet,  with  all  this  infinite  guilt  lying  distinctly 
like  a  map  before  him,  he  commended  and  sent  his  love 
to  every  creature.  He  remembered  only  that  \ve  were  per- 
ishing, and  felt  only  that  he  could  save.  He  found  him- 
self in  possession  of  the  gift  of  eternal  life,  and  he  sent 
it  in  messages  of  grace  overall  the  earth.  By  connecting 
this  embassy  with  an  act  of  special  benediction  on  those 
whom  he  honored  to  fulfil  n  he  significantly  taught  them 
that  he  set  them  apart,  to  a  work  of  blessing:  that  they 
were  to  go  from  under  his  uplifted  hands  to  bless  mankind 
as  he  had  blessed  them:  to  issue  forth  from  under  the  can- 
opy of  his  blessing,  propagating  and  diffusing  that  bless- 
ing to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  And  as  they  were  the  only 
agents  he  employed,  he  thus  intentionally  taught  us  that 
henceforth  he  devoted  himself  to  the  office  of  saving  us; 
that  he  engaged  no  agency,  owned  no  agency  whatever, 
but  for  this  purpose  ;  that  henceforth  his  only  communica- 
tion with  man  would  be  in  streams  of  unrningled  mercy, 
the  ocean  of  his 'grace  pouring  its  fulness  into  our  empti- 
ness ;  that  while  he  needed  no  destructive  agency  what- 
ever, he  should  require  all  the  benevolent  agency  of  heav- 
en and  earth  to  be  put  into  motion,  in  order  to  do  justice  to 
the  purposes  of  his  love.  Having  died  for  the  redemption 
of  the  world,  he  felt  that  he  had  made  the  world  his  own ; 
and,  embracing  all  its  dearest  interests.,  he  pressed  them  to 
his  heart. 

But  fascinating  and  enchaining  as  this  subject  is,  we 
must  now  hasten  to  a  close.  Casting  our  eye  back  on 
the  ground  we  have  passed  over,  what  a  miracle  of  moral 
portraiture  do  we  behold  in  the  evangelical  history  of 
Christ !  What  transcendent  wisdom !  What  divine 


HIS    TENDERNESS    AND    BENEVOLENCE.  387 

benevolence!  What  perfection !  The  character  of  Jesus 
stands  alone;  it  has  no  archetype  in  history;  no  analogy 
in  nature ;  no  model  in  all  the  worlds  of  imagination  ;  as 
pourtrayed  in  scripture,  it  could  only  have  been  drawn 
from  a  contemplation  of  the  living  reality.  It  was  the  con- 
ception of  an  infinite  mind.  It  was  the  triumph  of  mercy 
aiming  to  condense  in  the  same  heing  the  evidences  of  di- 
vinity, adequate  illustrations  of  divine  love  and  the  power 
of  winning  the  souls  of  men  to  salvation,  and  transform- 
ing them  to  holiness. 

The  character  of  Christ  forms  a  distinct  proof  an  in- 
vincible demonstration  for  the  truth  of  the  gospel.  When 
we  remember  that  it  received  a  tribute  of  homage  from 
fallen  spirits,  we  shall  the  less  wonder  that  it  has  extorted 
expressions  of  reverence  from  some  of  the  worst  speci- 
mens of  fallen  humanity.  Men,  who  have  sported  with 
the  sanctity  of  every  thing  else  that  religion  owns,  have 
passed  by  the  character  of  Christ  in  respectful  silence;  this 
was  conscience,  recognizing  in  his  perfection  a  likeness 
which  it  felt  it  ought  to  he  familiar  with  and  adore ;  such 
is  the  awful  power  of  goodness  on  natures  preconfigured 
to  its  image.  Some  have  been  entirely  restrained  from 
•violating  the  sanctuary  of  truth,  by  the  same  guardian  in- 
fluence :  the  character  of  Christ,  like  the  presence  of  a 
shrine,  protected  it.  As  the  house  of  Obed-edom  was  bless- 
ed for  the  sake  of  the  residing  ark,  so  religion  has  often 
escaped  evil,  and  received  homage  from  its  foes,  for  the 
sake  of  the  character  of  Christ.  Men  who  have  destroy- 
ed, in  intention,  every  other  part  of  the  temple  of  truth, 
have  paused  when  they  came  to  this;  have  turned  aside 
and  desisted  for  a  while  from  the  work  of  demolition,  to 
gaze  and  bow  before  it ;  have  not  merely  left  it  standing  as 
a  column  too  majestic,  or  an  altar  too  holy,  for  human  sao- 
rilege  to  assail,  but  (it  was  the  only  redeeming  act  in  their 


388  THE      GREAT       TEACHER. 

history,)  have  even  inscribed  their  names  on  its  base,  and 
have  been  heard  to  burst  forih  in  admiring  exclamations 
approaching  to  love. 

The  peculiar  excellencies  of  the  character  of  Christ,  as 
an  argument  for  the  gospel,  are  that  it  tends  to  attract  and 
invite  inspection ;  for  it  is  the  perfection  of  moral  beau- 
ty :  it  is  level  to  the  apprehension  of  all ;  for  it  makes 
a  direct  appeal  to  some  of  the  first  principles  of  our  nature, 
to  our  natural  perceptions  of  goodness,  and  our  instinctive 
approval  of  it;  and  it  not  only  convinces,  but  transforms  ; 
engaging  and  carrying  with  it  at  once  the  understanding 
and  the  heart.  While  some,  who  were  in  the  last  stages 
of  depravity,  have  been  allured  by  it  to  the  pursuit  of  ex- 
cellence: others,  who  have  been  sitting  in  despondency  at 
the  gates  of  perdition,  have  beheld  it,  and  conceived  hope. 
And  though  the  best  specimens  of  our  race  have,  in  every 
age  since  his  appearance,  been  laboring  to  imitate,  they  have 
not  been  able  to  equal  it.  The  character  of  Jesus  challen- 
ges the  affections  of  all  intelligent  beings,  leaves  the  im- 
pression of  its  image  on  every  object  it  touches,  and  is 
destined  to  collect  around  itself  all  the  sanctified  passions 
of  the  universe. 

But,  besides  being  an  evidence  for  Christianity,  the  char- 
acter of  our  Lord  is  to  be  regarded  as  an  example.  '  1 
have  given  you  an  example,1  said  he.  'that  ye  should  do 
as  I  have  done  unto  you.  Learn  of  me.  A  new  com- 
mandment I  give  unto  you,  that  ye  love  one  another  ;  as 
I  have  loved  you,  that  ye  also  love  one  another.7  Thus 
he  seeks  to  augment  the  value  of  his  own  character,  re- 
garded as  an  argument  for  the  gospel,  by  multiplying  the 
copies  of  his  excellence  in  the  lives  of  all  his  people:  he 
would  render  each  of  his  disciples  like  himself— a  living 
demonstration  for  the  truth.  All  the  wealth  of  moral  pow- 
er which  .the  wise  and  the  good  have  ever  possessed,  is 


HIS  TENDERNESS  AND  BENEVOLENCE.      389 

summed  up  in  him,  and  infinitely  augmented,  and  brought 
to  bear  on  the  hearts  of  his  people  ;  that,  by  living  as  under 
the  focus  of  all  excellence,  they  might  be  transformed  into 
the  same  image.  Having  turned  all  his  infinite  nature 
into  grace,  having  dissolved  into  a  fountain  of  healing 
mercy  for  the  recovery  of  the  world,  he  would  now  em- 
ploy the  hearts  of  his  people  as  consecrated  channels  for 
the  diffusion  of  its  streams;  he  would  have  their  natures, 
like  his  own,  changed  into  tenderness  and  love.  It  is 
true,  his  example  can  never  be  equalled,  for  it  embodies  in- 
finite goodness  ;  but  with  so  much  the  greater  force  does  it 
oblige  us,  in  our  humble  measure,  to  attempt  the  imitation. 
Having  adopted  our  humanity,  when  it  was  only  related  to 
him,  like  other  natures,  by  creation,  he  is  surely  entitled 
to  expect  that  we  should  love  our  own  flesh,  that  we  should 
seek  the  welfare  of  the  nature  which  is  essentially  our 
own,  by  diffusing  the  greatest  possible  happiness  among 
those  connatural  with  us.  Having  died  for  the  good  of 
man,  the  least  he  is  authorized  to  expect  is,  that  we  should 
live  for  the  same  benevolent  object.  What  do  we  behold 
in  his  history,  but  a  whole  life  of  humility,  one  continued 
act  of  condescension,  a  vast  and  unbroken  descent  from 
the  heights  of  heaven  to  the  form  of  a  servant,  the  life  of 
an  outcast,  the  death  of  a  malefactor?  The  least  use  then 
we  can  make  of  his  example — we  who  have  it  not  in  our 
power,  as  sinners,  to  practice  great  condescension,  since  we 
are  all  on  a  level  in  the  dust  already — is  to  assist  each  oth- 
er to  arise,  aiding  the  infirmities  of  the  weak,  and  breath- 
ing a  spirit  of  sympathetic  tenderness  for  all.  As  far  as 
religion  is  practical  and  relative  to  others,  he  has  made 
benevolence  its  life  and  essence  ;  not  merely  a  part  of  the 
Christian  character,  but  the  character  itself. 

And  how  eminently  is  the  tender  compassion  of  Christ 
calculated  to  encourage  all  to  repair   to  him.     When   the 


300  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

more  prominent  parts  of  his  history  are  made  to  pass  be- 
fore our  eyes,  if  we  are  not  destitute  of  all  sensibility,  how 
softening  and  hallowing  the  effect  they  produce  on  the 
mind!  How  impossible  is  it  for  the  most  timid  spirit  to 
picture  the  serenity  of  that  brow  which  no  evil  passions 
ever  disturbed,  to  mark  the  benevolence  which  beamed 
from  his  eye,  and  to  listen  to  the  tones  of  that  voice  which 
soothed  and  cheered  the  most  fearful  and  sorrowful,  with- 
out feeling  itself  drawn  gradually  nearer  and  closer  to  his 
side.  Wherever  his  grace  is  scripturally  displayed,  it  se- 
cures the  attention  of  the  most  thoughtless,  it  melts  the 
hardest  and  subdues  the  proudest  heart,  and  inspires  the 
most  fearful  with  hope.  The  apostle  declares,  that  had 
the  princes  of  this  world  known  him,  they  would  not  have 
crucified  him  ;  had  they  known  the  principle  of  love  which 
brought  him  from  heaven,  they  would  have  been  disarmed 
of  their  enmity  against  him,  and  instead  of  condemning 
him,  they  would  have  paid  him  homage  as  the  prince  of 
the  kings  of  the  earth.  Had  those  who  were  most  eager 
to  hasten  his  crucifixion,  and  most  delighted  with  his  death» 
caught  but  a  glipse  of  the  love  which  dictated  every  ac- 
tion of  his  life,  their  cruel  malignity  must  have  yielded 
and  given  place  to  unfeigned  penitence  and  love. 

The  character  of  Christ  is  the  character  of  his  dispen- 
sation; it  is  the  dispensation  of  the  still  small  voice  ;  and 
the  secret  of  its  power  is  love.  His  ministers,  therefore, 
are  to  win  souls,  to  persuade  men.  to  beseech  them,  to  min- 
gle their  instructions  with  tears  ;  and  the  more  deeply  they 
are  imbued  with  the  mind  of  Christ,  the  more  tender  will 
be  their  address,  the  more  affectionate  their  message. 
They  have  only  to  consult  their  own  experience  to  Irarn 
that  the  public  exhibition  of  Christ,  as  the  Saviour  of  sin- 
ners, constitutes  the  most  welcome  and  profitable  topic  on 
which  they  can  enlarge;  that,  whatever  their  subject  may 


HIS    TENDERNESS    AND    BENEVOLENCE.  391 

be,  like  John  the  Baptist,  pointing  abruptly  to  his  passing 
Lord,  that  cannot  be  a  faulty  digression  which  directs  their 
hearers  to  behold  the  Lamb  of  God. 

The  fact  that  Jesus  Christ  was  peculiarly  his  own  sub- 
ject, teaches  us  that  he  ought  also  to  be  ours  ;  and  that  as- 
pect of  his  character  which  he  most  delighted  to  exhibit, 
must  be  the  feature  to  which  we  should  give  especial  prom- 
inence; and  what  was  that  but  tender  compassion  for  the 
souls  of  men?  Approach,  then,  and  look  upon  him;  the 
nature  in  which  you  behold  him  clothed  is  truly  your  own  ; 
he  has  assumed  it  that  he  may  dissipate  all  your  fears; 
that  he  might  taste  death  for  you  ;  that  he  may  absorb  and 
carry  away  all  your  sorrows;  that  he  may  claim  kindred 
with  you  ;  that  he  may  discharge  for  you  all  the  kind  and 
beneficent  offices  of  brotherhood  ;  that  he  might  make  it 
impossible  for  you  to  doubt  his  love.  Approach,  and  be- 
hold his  hands  and  his  feet;  those  are  the  wounds  which 
he  received  when  he  was  wounded  for  our  transgressions, 
bruised  for  our  iniquities,  when  the  chastisement  of  our 
peace  was  upon  him,  that  by  his  stripes  we  might  be  heal- 
ed. Urge  nothing  in  excuse  for  not  corning  to  him  ;  lose 
not  the  time  necessary  to  utter  it;  for  whatever  your  guilt 
or  weakness,  your  wants  or  unworthiness  may  be,  his  grace 
over  rules  and  provides  for  the  whole.  He  knows  the  val- 
ue of  a  religious  principle  too  well,  as  well  as  the  dangers 
to  which  it  is  exposed,  to  despise  it  on  account  of  its  weak- 
ness ;  he  does  not  wait  for  a  time,  to  see  whether  the  spark 
of  piety  will  increase  or  vanish  ;  but  he  watches  it,  and 
solicits  and  feeds  it,  until  it  rises  into  a  pure  and  steady 
flame  of  devotion  towards  God.  He  does  not  disregard 
the  piety  of  the  poor  and  destitute,  because  they  are  unable 
to  advocate  his  cause,  or  to  contribute  to  its  support  more 
than  two  mites,  or  to  adorn  it  with  earthly  splendor;  the 
arms  of  his  love  embrace  alike  the  obscure  and  the  more 


392  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

useful ;  and  if  you  are  only  conscious  of  a  desire  to  love 
him,  a  concern  to  please  him,  you  share  a  place  in  his 
heart  in  common  with  the  angels  around  his  throne.  When 
the  back-slider  relapses  into  a  state  from  which  he  had 
been  rescued,  and  seems  even  to  prosecute  his  sinful  course 
with  renewed  avidity,  he  does  not  as  man  commonly  does, 
regard  him  as  lost.  He  goes  after  him  into  the  wilder- 
ness; sends  afflictions  in  pursuit  of  him ;  and  waits  to  see 
the  effect  which  trial  and  reflection  produce.  And  if,  like 
the  prodigal,  the  sinner  should  come  to  himself  and  say, 
*  I  will  arise  and  return,7  and  actually  begins  to  retrace  his 
steps,  the  Saviour  delays  not  in  order  to  see  how  far  he  will 
return — he  sees  him  yet  a  great  way  ofl^  and  runs  to  meet 
him — he  is  delighted  at  the  first  indications  of  penitence, 
anticipates  his  intention,  assists  him  in  returning,  and  re- 
joices over  him  as  one  who  was  dead  and  is  alive  again. 
We  ourselves  can  trace  the  mightiest  occurrences  back  to 
sources  the  most  insigificant ;  and,  with  intuitive  ease, 
the  Saviour  beholds,  in  the  first  emotion  of  the  penitent,  the 
first  symptom  of  an  endless  life,  the  first  step  in  a  career 
of  glory,  honor,  and  immortality.  He  does  not,  therefore, 
despise  the  day  of  small  things.  And  how  many  thous- 
ands of  the  blessed,  who  are  now  surrounding  his  throne 
above,  are  constrained,  on  looking  back  to  the  weakness  of 
their  early  religious  impressions,  and  the  hesitation  with 
which  at  first  they  advanced  in  the  path  of  life,  to  bless  him 
that  he  did  not  break  the  bruised  reed,  nor  quench  the 
smoking  flax.  O  that  you  knew  the  unutterable  interest 
which  he  takes  in  every  serious  emotion  of  your  soul,  you 
would  love  him  more,  arid  resort  to  him  oftener,  and  repose 
in  him  all  the  confidence  which  he  asks. 

Finally  :  let  those  of  my  readers  who  have  been  hither- 
to regardless  of  the  ineffable  compassion  of  the  Son  of 
God,  remember  the  melting  tones  of  remonstrance  with 


HIS    TENDERNESS    AND     BENEVOLENCE.  393 

which  when  looking  round  upon  such  as  you,  he  said,  in 
all  the  grief  of  defeated  mercy,  *  Ye  will  not  come  unto 
me  that  ye  might  have  life.'  You  can  go  to  others,  and 
inquire  the  way  to  happiness:  you  can  believe  what  they 
say  ;  you  do  follow  their  advice  ;  but  to  him  who  has  laid 
out  himself  for  your  welfare,  who  alone  could  make  the 
vast  provision  necessary  for  your  immortal  happiness,  and 
who  has  made  it  at  the  expense  of  an  infinite  sacrifice,  to 
him  you  \vill  not  come.  He  has  to  complain  of  you,  that 
while  you  have  been  always  ready  to  yield  to  the  solicita- 
tions of  the  world,  to  follow  the  first  beck  of  tempatiori* 
to  accept  of  any  invitation  in  the  shape  of  worldly  plea- 
sure, yet  his  call  you  will  not  obey.  He  has  to  complain 
of  you,  that  you  put  him  off  with  mere  professions,  and 
make  him  to  serve  with  the  mere  semblance  of  friendship; 
that  though  you  have  for  years  frequented  his  house,  and 
heard  his  invitations,  and  been  pressed  to  accept  them,  you 
still  remain  on  terms  as  cold  and  distant  with  him  as  ever; 
that  you  never  come  to  his  footstool  as  suppliants,  nor  to 
his  table  as  friends,  nor  walk  in  his  ways  as  devoted  disci- 
ples. But  he  will  not  let  you  go :  though  he  feels  your 
obstinate  refusal  to  come  to  him  ;  feels  it  as  an  insult  to 
his  grace;  feels  it  as  a  deep  disappointment,  a  grievous 
frustration  of  an  object  on  which  his  heart  was  set,  yet 
once  more  he  comes  to  you;  and,  O,  mark  and  admire 
the  gentleness  of  the  terms  in  which  he  expostulates — it  is 
the  melting  rebuke  of  mercy  chiding  you  into  its  embrace 
— '  Ye  will  not  come  unto  me  that  ye  might  have  life.7 
There  is  a  sense,  perhaps,  in  \vhich,  owing  to  your  pro- 
longed and  stony  indifference  to  his  claims,  you  may  be 
said  to  have  closed  your  hearts  against  him;  but  he  seeks 
to  surmount  even  this  obstacle;  'Behold,'  saith  he, 'I  stand 
at  the  door  and  knock.'  He  knows  what  unholy  guests 
are  within,  what  sins  are  entertained  and  regaled  in  the 


394  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

chambers  of  your  hearts,  while  he  is  kept  standing  without 
and  refused  admission.  But  still,  by  the  instrumentality 
-of  his  gospel,  if  by  nothing  else,  he  continues  to  knock 
and  to  urge  you  to  come  to  him  ;  or  he  tenderly  upbraids 
you  that  you  will  not. 

But  why  does  the  blessed  Jesus  thus  expostulate?  'It 
is  not,'  saith  he,  'that  I  receive  honor  of  men  ;  it  is  not 
that  I  seek  to  be  gratified  with  the  barren  applauses  of 
men,  or  that  I  hope  for  human  requital :  but  these  things 
I  say  unto  you,  that  ye  might  be  saved.'  Yes,  Saviour  of 
sinners,  this  is  thine  only  object,  that  they  might  be  saved  : 
the  object  of  all  thou  hast  said  to  them,  and  of  all  thou 
hast  done  for  them ;  the  object  which  is  always  present  to 
thy  mind.  For  this  thou  hast  surrounded  thyself  with 
convincing  proofs  of  thine  appointment  and  power  to  save: 
and,  O,  surpassing  grace,  thou  even  consentest  to  wait  for 
their  decision  till  they  have  examined  the  evidence  of  thy 
claims  in  detail.  For  this  thou  hast  withheld  nothing,  not 
even  thy  blood,  thy  life  ;  thou  hast  done  so  much  for  them 
that  infinite  love  can  do  no  more. 

Behold,  then  ;  behold,  in  the  boundless  love  of  Christ,  a 
sufficient  inducement  to  repair  to  him  at  once.  He  may 
be  regarded,  at  this  moment,  as  standing  before  you,  with 
the  hoarded  love  of  eternity  in  his  heart,  offering  to  make 
you  heirs  of  all  its  wealth  :  nor  is  it  in  your  power  to  grieve 
him  more,  than  by  disregarding  the  gracious  overture. 
He  fears  nothing  but  your  neglect  ;  deprecates  nothing  but 
your  inattention;  The  first  look  you  direct  towards  him, 
would  not  escape  his  notice ;  the  first  step  you  take  towards 
him,  would  bring  him  more  than  a  step  towards  you.  All 
things  are  ready  for  your  reception  ;  he  will  meet  your 
weakness  with  his  almighty  strength,  your  emptiness  and 
poverty  with  his  inexhaustible  fulness. 


ESSAY   V. 
THE  PRACTICALNESS  OF  OUR  LORD'S  TEACHING. 


'  Blessed  are  they  who  hear  the  word  of  God  and  keep  it.' 
'Be  ye  perfect,  even  as  your  Father  in  heaven  is  peifect.' 


I.  CONSIDERED  as  a  teacher  of  holiness,  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  exemplified  his  wisdom,  not  only  in  the  light 
which  he  imparted,  but  also  in  what  he  withheld. 

1.  Pretenders  to  a  divine  revelation  have  seldom  omitted 
to  infuse  into  their  systems  of  error  a  large  proportion  of 
the  marvelous.  Calculating  on  the  credulity,  and  raven- 
ous curiosity  of  the  multitude,  they  have  been  graphic  and 
unsparing  in  their  disclosures  of  the  invisible  and  future. 
Besides  pandering  to  the  prevailing  passions  of  mankind, 
they  have  aimed  to  establish  their  dominion  by  stimulating 
and  engrossing  the  imagination  with  wonders  ;  and  having 
raised  the  veil  of  mystery  to  its  utmost  height,  they  pro- 
ceed to  measure  the  infinite,  to  paint  the  inconceivable,  and 
to  materialize  and  subject  the  spiritual  to  the  senses. 

But  he  who  came  forth  from  the  bosom  of  the  Father, 
and  who  could  therefore  have  dazzled  and  astounded  the 
world  with  celestial  visions,  practised  a  wise  and  gracious 
reserve.  He  came,  not  to  astonish,  but  to  instruct  and  to 
save ;  and  to  instruct  solely  with  a  view  to  save ;  and 
knowing  that  to  feed  curiosity  is  only  to  increase  its 
appetite,  that  to  impart  a  particle  of  knowledge  more 
than  is  essential  to  our  advance  in  the  path  of  holiness, 
would  operate  as  a  diversion  from  that  path  rather  than 
an  incitement  in  it,  he  limited  his  communications  to 
the  exact  measure  of  practical  utility.  He  kept  his  hand, 


396  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

if  I  may  say  so,  on  the  pulse  of  conscience,  and  adminis- 
tered only  so  much  of  the  exciting  element  of  knowledge 
as  would  subserve  the  health  and  holy  activity  of  the  soul. 

In  order  to  estimate  the  gospel  aright,  it  is  necessary  to 
bear  in  mind,  that  it  is  not  meant  for  intellectual  beings  as 
such;  it  is  not  addressed  to  man  in  his  mental,  but  in  his 
moral  capacity  :  it  contemplates  him  as  a  lapsed  and  ruined 
creature,  to  whom  the  only  knowledge  that  is  essential  is 
a  knowledge  of  the  way  of  deliverance.  If,  besides  con- 
taining this  vital  information,  it  also  ministered  to  his  un- 
sanctified  curiosity,  he  would,  undoubtedly,  prior  to  his 
conversion,  value  it  the  more  highly  ;  but,  from  the  moment 
he  opened  his  eyes  to  a  perception  of  his  guilt  and  danger, 
he  would  as  certainly  account  that  very  circumstance  a 
great  defect.  His  first  solicitude  and  employment,  then, 
would  be,  to  disentangle;  arid,  bestowing  on  these,  and  on 
these  alone,  the  name  of  gospel,  the  plain  and  simple  pre- 
scriptions of  mercy:  and,  detaching,  would  cast  the  re- 
mainder away  as  refuse,  as  an  insult  to  his  anguish,  a 
mockery  of  his  woe.  However  unnatural  his  cravings 
before,  nothing  now  but  the  unadulterated  bread  of  life  can 
satisfy  his  famishing  soul. 

Accordingly,  at  the  hazard  of  displeasing  the  specula- 
tive and  inquisitive,  the  Saviour  confined  his  communica- 
tions to  the  wants  of  our  condition.  Repelling  the' curios- 
ity of  his  disciples,  how  often  did  he  turn  their  prying  in- 
quiries into  occasions  of  solemn  practical  appeal.  When 
they  sought  to  pluck  from  the  interdicted  tree  of  knowl- 
edge, he  graciously  presented  them  with  the  fruit  of  the 
tree  of  life.  They  found  every  avenue  closed,  but  the  nar- 
row way  that  leadeth  to  life  eternal ;  every  fountain  seal- 
ed, but  the  fountain  of  the  water  of  life.  While  the  heav- 
enly Oracle  was  prompt  in  answering  even  the  mental  and 
un uttered  inquiries  of  the  devout  and  humble,  the  inquisitive 


HIS       PRACTICALNESS.  397 

received  a  rebuke  which  contained  a  blessing.  Having 
come  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was  lost,  to  open  a  way 
from  the  mouth  of  that  fearful  pit  around  which  we  had 
gathered  to  the  gate  of  heaven,  he  caused  all  the  light  of 
revelation  which  he  shed,  to  fall  on  that  path  alone  :  that  we 
might  not  be  tempted  to  wander  from  the  highway  of  ho- 
liness, he  left  it  skirted  on  each  hand  with  original  dark- 
ness :  while  from  whatever  part  of  the  spacious  firmament 
of  truth  he  brought  the  beams  of  revelation,  he  caused  them 
all  to  converge  and  rest  on  that  strait  and  narrow  way. 

2.  But,  if  we  admire  the  wisdom  of  the  Great  Teacher, 
in  thus  limiting  his  discoveries  to  the  measure  of  our  wants 
and  interests,  we  cannot  withhold  our  complacency  at  his 
legislation,  in  delivering  a  code  of  pure  and  simple  moral- 
ity, entirely  unencumbered  by  the  clogs  of  an  onerous  and 
elaborate  ritual.  Discharging  his  disciples  from  the  cares 
and  vexatious  obligations  of  the  ancient  ceremonial,  he  has 
laid  aside  for  them  every  such  weight,  and  left  them  free 
for  the  race  of  holiness  to  heaven.  The  rites  of  baptism 
and  the  Lord's  supper  are  too  simple  and  spiritual  to  be 
treated  as  exceptions  to  this  fact.  Instead  of  wasting  the 
powers,  and  exhausting  the  vigor  of  the  soul,  on  outward 
observances,  he  holds  it  disengaged  and  fresh  for  the  up- 
ward path  of  holiness.  Economizing  our  energies  and 
passions,  he  points  us  to  a  sphere  of  duty  in  which  angels 
might  engage  with  honor,  and  commands  us  to  put  forth  all 
our  strength,  adorning  ourselves  with  all  that  is  fair,  em- 
ulating all  that  is  great,  overtaking  the  excellencies,  and 
embodying  tire  perfections  of  heavenly  natures.  Having 
touched  and  given  impulse  to  all  our  spiritual  powers,  in- 
tead  of  impairing  that  momentum  by  calling  us  to  sur- 
mount the  obstacles  of  preliminary  rites,  he  collects  and 
compacts  its  force,  and  dismisses  it  in  a  line  direct  from 
heaven,  Treating  our  nature  with  a  divine  respect,  the 


398  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

code  which  he  enacts  is  one  of  generous  authority,  taking" 
off  every  depressing  weight,  only  prescribing  what  is  ab- 
solutely necessary,  and  actuated  in  doing  so  by  the  aim  of 
building  up  our  character  into  a  goodly  fabric  of  spiritual 
beauty  and  perfection. 

II.  If  it  comported  with  our  design  to  specify  the  sub- 
ject of  our  Lord's  discourses,  we  should  unhesitatingly 
say,  that  his  most  favorite  practical  topics  were  humility  be- 
fore God,  and  a  spirit  of  forbearance  and  love  toioards 
man.  In  the  inculcation  of  morals,  by  uninspired  teach- 
ers, novelty  is  the  last  quality  to  be  desired,  since  it  could 
scarcely  fail  to  be  error;  but  the  practical  instructions  of 
Jesus  had  this  distinction,  that  their  peculiarities  were  ex- 
cellencies. One  of  these  marked  peculiarities  consists  in 
his  taking  under  his  special  protection  certain  dispositions 
which  the  world  had  consented  to  brand  and  cast  out,  had 
conspired  to  frown  out  of  existence  :  in  restoring  them  to 
the  rank  of  duties,  and  proclaiming  them  graces  of  the 
kingdom  of  God. 

1.  Humility  is  a  habit  of  mind  which  has  never  been  in 
favor  with  the  world  :  in  every  age  it  has  been  degraded 
into  the  footstool  of  vanity,  and  conceit,and  enthroned  pride  ; 
but  in  direct  opposition  to  the  unanimous  verdict  of  mankind, 
he  raised  it  out  of  the  dust  into  which  it  was  trbtMen,  pro- 
nounced it  a  favorite  of  heaven,  and  clothed  it  with  the  gar- 
ments of  salvation.  'Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit,  for 
theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven.' 

Since  the  fatal  moment  when  man  aspired  to  *  be  as  a 
god,'  his  great  quarrel  with  his  Maker  has  been,  a  deter- 
mination to  assert  a  power  of  independence  altogether  alien 
to  his  nature  and  condition.  The  standard  of  revolt  was 
then  erected;  and  the  history  of  all  his  subsequent  conduct 
has  been  the  history  of  an  insane  endeavor  to  construct  an 


HIS       PRACTICALNESS.  399 

empire,  governed  bylaws,  and  replenished  with  resources, 
independent  of  God.  The  idolatry  and  sensuality,  the  un- 
belief, irreligion,  and  all  the  multiform  sins  of  man,  are  re- 
solvable into  this  proud  and  infernal  attempt.  Now,  before 
God  can  do  any  thing  towards  our  personal  recovery,  it  is 
obviously  necessary  that  we  should  be  disabused  of  the  idea 
of  our  supposed  self-sufficiency  ;  that,  descending  from  the 
pedestal  our  pride  has  erected,  we  should  cast  ourselves 
down  at  his  feet,  and  await  his  pleasure.  The  true  value 
of  humility  consists  in  its  inducing  us  to  desire  and  wel- 
come the  assistance  we  need,  to  abandon  ourselves  cordial- 
ly t3  the  divine  direction  ;  to  return,  and  descend,  and 
gratefully  to  occupy  our  proper  station  at  his  footstool,  as 
pensioners  on  his  bounty  and  grace.  *  They -that  are  whole 
need  not  a  physician,  but  they  that  are  sick  ;'  and  they 
only  will  apply  to  him  for  aid. 

Alas,  for  man,  that  his  humility  should  have  to  be  ac- 
counted a  virtue ;  that,  by  simply  conforming  his  views  to 
his  condition,  and  taking  a  just  estimate  of  his  state  and 
character,  he  should  render  himself  an  object  of  congratu- 
lation to  man,  and  of  peculiar  complacency  to  God ;  what 
a  depth  of  depravity  does  it  imply,  what  a  reproach  on  our 
nature  does  it  convey — for  a  blind  and  insignificant  creature 
to  believe  his  infinite  Creator,  for  a  guilty  and  condemned 
criminal  to  accept  of  pardon,  fora  man  in  the  act  of  perish- 
ing to  submit  to  be  saved — that  this  should  be  esteemed  a 
virtue  !  and  should  be  lauded  with  a  warmth  which  denotes 
its  rareness!  'This  is  indeed  a  lamentation,  and  shall  be 
for  a  lamentation.'  But,  condescending  to  our  condition, 
our  Lord  inculcated  humility  as  a  cardinal  grace,  promot- 
ing it  to  the  highest  place  in  the  catalogue  of  virtues.  He 
repeatedly  intimated,  that  while  a  spirit  of  self-exaltation 
shall  finally  be  smitten  with  a  blow  which  it  cannot  sur- 
vive, that  while  the  Almighty  will  array  against  this  avow- 


400  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

ed  antagonist  all  the  forces  of  its  wrath,  and  will  not  rest 
till  he  has  driven  it  far  from  his  presence,  into  outer  and 
endless  darkness,  humility  shall  be  raised  from  glory  to 
glory,  till  it  has  reached  the  loftiest  throne  in  the  kingdom 
of  God. 

But  that  which  gives  peculiar  emphasis  to  his  inculca- 
tions on  this  subject  is,  that  humility  is  inseparably  con- 
nected with  the  cordial  reception  of  his  gospel ;  so  that,  in 
enjoining  it,  he  is  infallibly  preparing  the  way  for  the  en- 
largement of  his  holy  kingdom.  Humility  is  the  conser- 
vator of  the  virtues;  nor  is  there  an  act  or  office  peculiar 
to  Christians,  in  which  its  influence  is  not  vitally  felt.  As 
pourtrayed  by  him,  on  entering  his  evangelical  church,  it 
is  a  little  child;  to  whom  belief  is  natural,  an  emblem  of  can- 
dor, simplicity  and  faith  ;  when  hearing  his  word,  it  sits  at 
his  feet,  and  is  all  docility  and  attention  ;  on  entering  the 
presence  of  God,  it  throws  itself  prostrate,  or  smites  on  its 
breast,  and  dares  not  lift  up  so  much  as  its  eyes  to  heaven ; 
when  it  is  free  to  take  the  highest  seat  in  the  assembly,  it 
voluntarily  selects  the  lowest,  and  is  taken  by  surprise  if 
called  up  higher;  in  the  presence  of  superior  excellence 
it  is  praise  and  imitation  ;  associated  with  fellow-christians, 
it  is  willing  subordination,  emulous  of  no  distinction  but 
that  which  arises  from  pre-eminent  service;  it  declines  to 
be  called  '  master,'  and  lays  all  its  honors  at  the  Saviour's 
feet ;  and  when,  at  length,  he  shall  ascend  his  throne,  and 
enumerate  its  godlike  deeds,  he  describes  it  as  filled  with 
self-abasement  even  there,  and  diffident  of  receiving  his 
divine  award.  Under  the  reign  of  holiness,  it  is  the  office 
of  humility  to  lay  a  foundation  for  universal  obedience,  by 
.filling  every  subject  with  gratitude  for  the  blessings  he  en- 
joys, and  making  him  feel  that  the  lowest  situation  is  a 
post  of  unmerited  distinction,  held  by  a  grant  from  sover- 
eign grace, 


HIS       PRACTICALNESS.  401 

2.  Benevolence — -meaning  by  that  term  the  most  en- 
larged exercise  of  forbearance,  forgiveness,  and  love — was 
another  despised  and  unworldly  obligation,  which  he  res- 
cued and  enforced  by  the  highest  sanctions.  Under  the 
disorganizing  influence  of  sin,  the  tendency  of  the  world 
is  to  a  state  of  universal  misanthropy.  Having  lost  its 
original  centre  in  God,  it  attempts  not  to  find  any  common 
point  of  repose,  but  spends  itself  in  fruitless  efforts  to  erect 
an  infinity  of  independent  interests.  Every  kingdom  and 
province,  every  family,  every  individual  discovers  a  pro- 
pensity to  insulate  himself  from  the  common  brotherhood, 
and  to  constitute  himself  the  centre  of  an  all-subordinating 
and  ever-enlarging  circle.  Such  is  the  natural  egotism  of 
the  heart,  that  each  individual,  following  his  unrestrained 
bent,  acts  as  if  he  were  a  whole  kingdom  in  himself,  and 
as  if  the  general  well-being  depended  on  subjection  to  his 
supremacy.  He  would  fain  be  his  own  end;  himself  the 
reason  of  all  he  does.  On  this  ungodly  and  unnatural  ex- 
periment, the  Saviour  laid  his  sovereign  interdict.  He  pla- 
ces it  in  every  light,  takes  us  to  view  it  from  every  point, 
in  order  to  show  us  its  flagrant  sinfulness  ;  and  no  sooner 
do  we  place  ourselves  at  his  disposal,  than  we  find  our- 
selves restored  and  related  to  all  around,  and  engaged  in  a 
career  of  godlike  benevolence :  we  '  remember  the  words 
of  the  Lord  Jesus,  how  he  said,  it  is  more  blessed  to  give 
than  to  receive.' 

He  sought  to  neutralize  the  maxims  of  the  world  in'  fa- 
vor of  selfishness  and  revenge,  by  bringing  into  currency 
opposing  maxims  of  forgiveness  and  love.  He  would  have 
it  impressed  on  us,  that  we  owe  to  every  man  a  debt  of  af- 
fection which  is  never  discharged:  that  we  owe  it  to  him 
as  one  of  our  own  kind  :  and  that  no  conduct  of  his,  how- 
ever personally  offensive,  can  ever  release  us  from  tire  ob- 
ligation of  seeking  his  welfare.  He  would  have  us  to 
25  ~ 


40"2  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

honor  all  men  ;  to  pay  respect  to  human  nature ;  to  aim 
at  the  general  good  of  that  human  family  into  which  we 
have  been  born  everlasting  members.  '  Peter  said  unto 
him,  Lord,  how  often  shall  my  brother  sin  against  me,  and 
I  forgive  him;  until  seven  times?  Jesus  "answered,  I  say 
not  unto  thee  till  seven  times,  but  until  seventy  times  seven.' 
And,  when  we  have  done  this,  he  points  us  to  the  conduct 
of  our  heavenly  Father,  and  renders  the  duty  of  forgive- 
ness infinite,  while  he  says,  *  Be  .  ye  merciful,  even  as  your 
Father  in  heaven  is  merciful.'  He  meets  us  on  our  way 
to  the  throne  to  obtain  forgiveness,  and  he  assures  us  that 
however  costly  the  gift  we  may  be  about  to  lay  on  the  holy 
altar,  God  is  not  to  be  bribed  to  do  that  for  us  which  we  re- 
fuse to  do  for  others  ;  that  there  is  no  access  to  his  presence, 
no, audience,  nor  hope,  until  our  friendship  for  man  is  en- 
tire. He  supposes  us  to  have  even  reached  the  altar,  to 
'be  standing  in  the  immediate  presence  of  God  ;  he  suppo- 
ses the  religious  service  to  have  reachedthat  juncture  when 
the  Deity  is  actually  waiting  to  receive  the  offering, — what 
now  can  be  of  sufficient  importance  to  stop  the  service  ?  he 
teaches  us  that  the  exercise  of  forgiveness  is  that  impor- 
tant thing,  and  that  while  it  is  performing,  the  majesty  of 
heaven  and  earth  consents  to  wait.  And,  to  save  his  dis- 
ciples from  all  reservation  and  delusion  on  this  subject,  he 
taught  them  to  pray  that  the  measure  in  which  they  forgive 
might  be  the  standard  by  which  God  would  dispense  his 
grace  to  them  :  thus  leaving  to  revenge  no  alternative  but 
instant  reconciliation,  or  the  imprecation  of  revenge  on  its 
own  head. 

He  represents  our  Almighty  Father  as  conceding  his 
high  prerogative,  merging  the  consideration  of  the  infinite 
difference  between  our  offences  against  his  majesty,  and 
the  offences  of  a  fellow  mortal  against  our  insignificance, 
and  offering  us  pardon  for  pardon,  grace  for  grace,  '  if  we 


HIS       PRACTICALNESS.  403 

from  the  heart  forgive  every  one  his  brother  their  trespas- 
ses.' He  would  have  every  man  proclaim  a  general  am- 
nesty ;  an  act  of  oblivion  of  all  injures  ;  .a  year  of  jubilee  : 
and  that  jubilee  he  would  have  us  to  make  perpetual. 

The  world  has  no  notion  of  vanquishing  enemies,  ex- 
cept by  the  employment  of  outward  force,  by  the  exercise 
of  revenge,  and  the  infliction  of  punishment.  Jesus  Christ 
has  brought  into  operation  a  new  power  for  subduing  an 
enemy.  He  enjoins  his  disciples  to  try  the  efficacy  of 
love:  not  to  content  themselves  with  mere  negative  benev- 
olence, or,  not  avenging  themselves;  but  to  breathe  back 
love  for  hatred,  and  blessings  for  curses.  He  points  them 
to  the  triumphant  effects  of  this  principle  in  the  hand  of 
God:  and,  taking  out  of  their  hands  the  weapons  of  re- 
venge, he  would  have  them  to  make  trial  of  it  also.  And  is 
it  possible  for  them  to  survey  the  unconfined  goodness  of 
God,  to  entertain  the  great  conception  of  infinite  goodness, 
to  have  their  minds  possessed  with  so  vast  and  glorious  an 
idea,  without  receiving  corresponding  impressions  ?  they 
will  be  led  by  a  necessity  of  nature  to  imitate  that  diffusive 
goodness,  to  act  the  god,  if  I  may  say  so,  in  .their  small 
and  limited  spheres  ;  to  exercise  the  divine  prerogative  of 
mercy — to  wield  that  power,  before  which  all  opposition  is 
destined  to  give  way — the  omnipotent  power  of  love. 

As  a  spiritual  being,  man  is  the  offspring  of  the  Father 
of  spirits  ;  this  is  a  relation  and  an  honor  which  he  cannot 
lose  ;  and  in  this  high  capacity,  the  Saviour,  having  further 
dignified  us  with  his  own  love,  proposes  every  human  be- 
ing as  a  magnificent  object  of  affection  to  the  whole  species. 
Taking  us  from  that  small  circle,  that  point  of  selfishness 
we  have  made  our  home,  and  where,  in  building  ourselves 
in  from  the  incursion  of  outward  evils,  we  have  at  the 
same  time  shut  out  the  sight  of  the  great,  the  spiritual, 
and  the  future,  he  conducts  us  to  a  mount  of  vision  from 


404  THE       G^EAT       TEACHER. 

which  all  the  territorial  lines  and  artificial  distinctions  of 
society  are  no  longer  visible^  and  where  the  living  land- 
scape presents  us  with  a  view  of  one  vast  community  of 
immortal  beings,  claiming  the  same  distinguished  origin, 
involved  in  a  common  danger,  invited  to  one  grand  deliver- 
ance, and  passing  together  into  the  unseen  state.  While 
surveying  this  comprehensive  and  affecting  scene,  he 
would  have  us  especially  to  remark  the  mutual  action,  the 
certain  relation,  by  which,  like  the  interdependence  of  the 
planetary  system,  the  interests  of  each  are  co-mingled  and 
blended  with  the  welfare  of  the  whole.  From  this  eleva- 
tion he  points  us  to  the  infinite  resources  he  has  opened 
for  us  in  God;  reminding  us  that  we  have  access  to  more 
than  we  want,  in  order  that  we  may  go  and  instru mentally 
minister  to  the  wants  of  others.  Then  dismissing  us  again 
into  the  vale  of  life,  he  would  have  us  to  descend  and  min^ 
gle  with  our  race,  surcharged  with  a  benevolence  like  that 
which  brought  himself  from  heaven,  and  which  induces 
him  still  to  identify  our  interests  with  his  highest  glory. 

He  would  have  his  disciples  to  combine  in  a  godlike 
endeavor  to  disarm  the  species ;  to  gather  but  of  his  king- 
dom all  the  weapons  and  instruments  of  revenge,  casting* 
them  far  into  the  territories  of  Satan,  from  which  they 
came  ;  to  bring  the  art  of  mutual  destruction  into  disgrace 
and  disuse;  and  to  prove  their  descent  from  the  great 
Peacemaker  of  the  universe,  by  binding  the  whole  family 
of  man  into  one  vast  confederacy  of  mutual  assistance  and 
brotherly  love.  '  Blessed  are  the  peacemakers,  for  they 
shall  be  called  the  children  of  God,'  The  ancient  distinc- 
tion between  neighbor  and  enemy  he  has  annihilated  ;  his 
disciples  are  to  know  no  enemy  ;  the  very  term  is  banish- 
ed from  the  Christian  vocabulary,  or  to  be  inserted  only  as 
obsolete  He  would  have  them  to  supercede  the  visible 
employment  of  angels  under  the  present  economy  by  be- 


HIS       PRACTICALNESS.  405 

coming  themselves  his  angels  and  ambassadors  to  man. 
By  commanding  them  to  imitate  his  own  love,  he  would 
have  them  not  only  supplant  but  surpass  angelic  ministra- 
tions ;  like  an  orphan  family,  whose  members  have  attain- 
ed an  age  and  state  of  active  affection,  in  ,which  the  foreign 
helps  they  enjoyed  in  childhood  are  made  unnecessary,  by 
their  mutually  caring  for  and  aiding  each  other.  The 
friendships  which  are  cemented  in  adversity  are  commonly 
of  a  more  tender,  disinterested,  and  lasting  nature,  than 
those  which  are  formed  in  any  other  circumstances  :  that 
friendship  between  man  and  man,  of  which  he  has  laid  the 
foundation,  is  to  be  eternal;  and  therefore  would  he  see  it 
cemented  as  closely  as  possible,  by  having  it  commenced 
while  they  are  here  in  a  state  of  trial ;  and  commenced, 
(how  wise,  how  worthy  of  himself  the  divine  arrangement) 
in  a  reciprocation  of  Christian  offices,  whose  issues  shall 
reach  through  eternity.  For  not  only  does  he  charge  them 
to  do  all  the  good  they  can  to  each  other  themselves,  he 
takes  them  to  the  throne  of  God,  and  invests  them  with 
the  office  of  mutual  intercessors,  empowers  them  to  touch 
and  Set  in  motion  an  almighty  agency  for  each  other ;  he 
even  puts  into  their  hands  the  means  of  mutual  salvation, 
making  it  at  once  their  honor  and  office  to  assist  as  sub- 
ordinate agents  in  training  and  conducting  each  other  to 
eternal  life. 

III.  In  entering  on  any  of  the  offices  or  relations  of 
life,  it  is  an  obvious  advantage  to  possess  a  view  of  the  du- 
ties peculiar  to  that  sphere,  in  as  brief,  clear,  and  compre- 
hensive a  form  as  possible ;  indeed,  if  they  could  all  be  ad- 
equately described  in  a  single  sentence,  they  would  be  so 
much  the  more  acceptable.  It  is  a  distinguished  excel- 
lence of  the  Great  Teacher,  that,  in  the  inculcation  of  mo- 
rality he  preferred  comprehensive  rules  to  a  distinct  spe- 


406  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

cification  of  duties ;  though  he  took  the  most  enlarged 
view  of  human  obligations,  he  generalized  and  enforced 
them  by  a  few  compendious  laws,  instead  of  separately  leg- 
islating for  each  particular  duty.  Had  he  adopted,  or 
rather  attempted^the  latter  method,  descending  to  a  minute 
enumeration  of  duties,  it  would  have  involved  this  serious 
evil — that  every  duty  which  might  have  arisen  below  the 
point  of  enumeration  would  have  been  in  danger  of  being 
treated  as  unobligatory,  because  not  inserted  in  the  specifi- 
cation. Glad  of  the  plausible  excuse  arising  from  the 
omission,  men  would  have  regarded  every  duty  not  en- 
joined as  omissible,  and  every  sin  not  prohibited  as  allow- 
able. But  in  the  hands  of  Jesus,  the  science  of  morality 
is  simplified  and  complete.  A  single  prohibition  is  so 
planted  by  him,  that  like  a  piece  of  ordnance,  it  may  be 
said  to  enfilade  and  sweep  a  whole  territory  of  sin  ;  noth- 
ing can  come  within  its  range  without  challenging  its 
thunder  and  courting  death.  A  single  rule  is  found  to 
contain  laws  for  an  indefinite  number  of  actions  ;  for  all  the 
possible  cases,  of  the  class  described,  which  can  ever  occur. 
Like  the  few  imaginary  circles  by  which  geography  cir- 
cumscribes the  earth,  he  has,  by  a  few  sentences,  describ- 
ed and  distributed  into  sections  the  whole  globe  ef  duty  ; 
so  that,  wherever  we  may  be  on  it,  we  find  ourselves  en- 
compassed by  some  comprehensive  maxim:  and,  in  what- 
ever direction  we  may  move,  we  have  only  to  reflect  in  or- 
der to  perceive  that  we  are  receding  from  or  approaching 
to  some  line  of  morality. 

By  thus  generalizing  morality,  he  has  consulted  the  weak- 
ness of  the  most  impaired  memory;  presented  us  with  a 
map-like  view  of  the  wide  region  of  duty  which  a  single 
glance  can  survey  ;  provided  rules  for  all  the  possible  va- 
rieties and  contingencies  of  human  action  ;  while  the  con- 
sciousness it  affords  his  followers,  that  they  are  able  to  sus- 


HIS       PRACTICALNESS.  407 

tain  the  particulars  of  their  life  upon  great  first  principles, 
enables  them  to  advance  in  the  path  of  holiness  with  an 
erect,  assured,  and  dignified  carriage  of  mind  ;  and  the  de- 
mand which  it  makes  on  the  higher  capabilities  of  nature, 
in  calling  them  to  comprehend  such  measures  of  greatness, 
and  to  sympathize  with  such  perfection,  raises  and  enno- 
bles them  to  themselves,  and  possesses  them  with  the  feel- 
ing that  they  are  allied  to  God. 

To  give  a  single  exemplification,  let  me  advert  to  the  ax- 
iom known  by  the  names  of  the  golden  rule,  and  the  uni- 
versal law  of  equity;  'all  things  whatsoever  ye  would 
that  men  should  do  unto  you.  do  ye  also  unto  them;  for 
this  is  the  law  and  the  prophets.'  The  Saviour  himself  as- 
cribes to  this  rule  the  condensed  and  comprehensive  char- 
acter for  which  we  have  cited  it ;  he  pronounces  it  an  ab- 
stract of  all  that  had  been  prescribed  by  the  law  and  the 
prophets;  all  they  delivered  on  the  subject  is  reducible  to 
this,  so  that,  were  their  writings  lost,  this  summary  might 
be  expanded  into  all  they  uttered.  Notwithstanding  its 
conciseness,  it  is  a  maxim  of  so  generic  a  kind,  that  encir- 
cling the  whole  sphere  of  social  virtue,  it  embraces  all 
things  whatsoever  that  sphere  contains.  No  injury  can 
be  done,  no  reasonable  kindness  be  omitted  by  man  to 
man,  which  is  not  a  violation  of  this  royal  law;  nor  can 
any  duty  be  performed  which  it  does  not  virtually  enjoin. 
If  it  needed  any  other  quality  to  recommend  it,  we  might 
easily  show  that  it  has  numerous  excellencies  fully  an- 
swerable to  its  comprehensiveness.  It  is  a  rule  as  portable 
as  our  self-love,  and  identical  with  it;  for  what  is  it  but  the 
love  of  self  applied  to  the  destruction  of  selfishness,  by  be- 
ing pressed  into  the  service  of  universal  benevolence?  It  is 
the  measuring  rod,  which  is  never  out  of  the  hand  of  self  for 
its  own  purpose,  legalized  and  applied  to  mete  out  the 
same  measure  for  the  good  of  others.  It  seeks  to  equalize 


403  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

vicissitude ;  to  make  a  community  of  our  joys  and  sor- 
rows, by  distributing  them  as  nearly  into  equal  parts  as  if 
we  knew  not  the  portion  which  would  fall  to  us.  It  aims 
to  transform  self  into  an  impartial  judge,  by  giving  it  an 
interest  in  all  the  decisions  which  it  pronounces  on  others. 
By  compelling  our  selfishness  to  do  the  work  of  destruc- 
tion on  itself,  it  makes  us  content  to  number  as  one,  as  a 
mere  unit  in  the  sum  of  the  species  :  and  to  seek  the  wel- 
fare of  the  whole  as  the  shortest  and  the  only  way  of  pro- 
moting our  own  individual  interest.  Let  this  infallible 
law  be  understood  and  applied,  and  the  trade  of  the  casu- 
ist would  be  gone  in  the  department  of  social  life  ;  for  self- 
interest,  prompt,  and  even  intuitive  when  it  sits  in  judg- 
ment for  its  own  ends,  would  have  only  to  imagine  a  mo- 
mentary self-transmigration,  and  to  transfer  its  judgments 
for  the  advantage  of  others. 

We  might  extend  this  representation  to  another  particu- 
lar of  a  similar  kind,  showing  the  comprehensiveness  of 
our  Lord's  maxims  concerning  the  omission  of  duty.  The 
line  which  divides  his  kingdom  from  the  empire  of  sin  is 
so  fine,  that,  like  the  line  of  geometry,  it  is  length  without 
breadth  ;  it  occupies  no  part  of  the  territories  which  it  de- 
fines; it  creates  no  border  land,  no  neutral  ground.  '  He 
that  is  not  with  me  is  against  me  ;  and  he  that  gathereth 
not  with  me  scattereth  abroad  ;'  a  sentence  which  sepa- 
rates the  world  into  two  great  classes  ;  assigning  over  to 
the  dominion  of  Satan  the  lukewarm  with  the  hostile;  and 
leaving  them  to  discover,  that  whereas  they  had  expected 
to  find  themselves  standing  at  least'on  neutral  ground,  they 
are  actually  and  considerably  within  the  frontiers  of  the 
kingdom  of  darkness. 

How  large  a  proportion  of  those,  whom  custom  and 
courtesy  agree  to  call  Christians,  live  and  die  in  self  com- 
placency and  hope,  from  the  persuasion  that  they  have  been 


HIS       PRACTICALNESS.  409 

harmless,  or,  because  they  have  done  nothing.  It  seems 
never  to  occur  to  such,  that  to  spend  threescore  years  and 
ten  on  a  field  of  conflict,  the  listless  spectators  of  a  strife 
in  which  heaven  every  moment  importunes  them  to  take 
part,  is  disobedience  and  guilt.  But,  for  this  large  sum  of 
human  ciphers  this  aggregation  of  figures  whose  total  is 
nothing,  the  final  sentence  is  already  prepared.  Having 
never  aspired  to  Christian  activity,  or  positive  excellence, 
the  doom  which  will  consign  the  whole  class  to  their  own 
place  will  descend  on  them  with  this  fearful  formula,  'In- 
asmuch as  ye  did  it  not}  Now  if  human  guilt  is  reduci- 
ble to  a  graduated  scale  of  demerit,  by  thus  inscribing 
condemnation  at  the  least  and  lowest  degree  on  the  scale, 
how  unavoidable  is  the  inference  made  that  greater  con- 
demnation is  reserved  for  every  higher  degree  of  sin ;  if 
the  mere  absence  of  activity,  the  negation  of  friendship, 
for  Christ  be  denounced,  it  follows  of  course  that  activity 
against  him,  that  positive  hostility,  being  superior  guilt, 
has  nothing  to  hope  for.  Thus,  by  recording  a  sentence 
against  the  omission  of  duty,  the  Divide  Teacher  has  not 
merely  destroyed  the  plea  of  harmlessness,  and  proscribed 
the  whole  tribe  of  the  useless,  he  has  tacitly  comprehend- 
ed and  denounced  the  hostile  and  persecuting,  leaving 
them  to  infer  that  to  doom  them  formally  would  be  super- 
fluous. 

IV.  Another  excellence  of  the  morality  which  Jesus 
inculcates  is,  that  it  extends  to  the  thoughts  and  operations 
of  the  heart.  To  legislate  for  a  small  department  of  the 
outward  life,  is  all  the  power  that  is  accorded  to  human 
authority.  In  speaking  of  the  spiritual  character  which 
the  law  assumed  in  the  hands  of  Christ,  we  showed  that  it 
is  his  prerogative  to  prescribe  for  the  heart.  'He  knew 
what  was  in  man  ; '  and  he  knew  the  connection  between 


THE   GREAT   TEACHER. 

that  hidden  source  and  the  visible  life,  to  be  the  relation  of 
cause  and  effect ;  he  sought,  therefore,  to  purify  the  streams 
by  cleansing  the  fountain-  He  denounces  the  murder  and 
adultery  of  the  heart :  sins,  which  were  unknown  to  the 
popular  code  of  Jewish  morality.  *  Out  of  the  heart,' 
said  he,  '  proceed  evil  thoughts  and  every  thing  that  de- 
fileth ; '  and,  accordingly,  belaid  his  hand  on  the  hidden 
machinery  of  pollution,  and  essayed  to  destroy  it  in  its 
springs.  He  sees  evil  there  in  its  type ;  and  aimed,  to 
crush  and  annihilate  it  in  its  mould.  He  does  not  wait 
till  sin  comes  out  into  the  life,  an  overt  act;  but  pass- 
ing into  the  heart,  he  begins  to  exert  the  authority  of  law 
much  earlier  and  higher;  he  meets  the  sin  in  its  native 
home  ;  detects  it  before  it  has  become  any  thing  but  thought, 
or  desire,  or  intention. 

By  repeatedly  asking  his  auditors,  as  he  did,  '  Why 
think  ye  evil  in  your  hearts?'  he,  in  effect,  proclaimed 
that  the  busy  and  populous  world  of  thought  is  subject  to 
divine  jurisdiction ;  that  his  eye  is  on  all  its  most  silent 
pulsations  and  hidden  movements;  and,  consequently,  that 
these  would  furnish  materials  fora  future  judicial  process- 
And  if  it  exalt  our  conceptions  of  matter,  to  know,  that, 
by  man,  it  is  absolutely  indestructible;  that,  of  all  which 
has  ever  existed,  not  an  atom  is  lost  ;x that,  however  it  may 
be  modified  and  dissipated,  it  cannot  be  destroyed  ;  and  that 
the  whole  is  destined  to  pass  through  the  final  regenerating 
fires ;  then  what  is  the  amount  of  solemn  importance 
which  should  invest  the  slightest  movements  of  our  minds, 
and  what  the  degree  of  intense  solicitude  with  which  we 
should  control  and  watch  them,  when  we  know  that  of  all 
the  infinite  myriads  of  our  thoughts,  not  one  is  lost:  that 
they  are  accumulating  fast  for  judgment:  that  over  the 
least  of  them  all  a  solemn  inquest  will  be  held,  by  God  and 
his  empanneled  angels ;  and  that  their  verdict  will  turn  it 


HIS       PRACTICALNESS.  411 

into  an  element  of  endless  joy  or  woe.  Yes,  the  moment 
will  come,  when  the  slightest  movement  of  the  mind  will 
be  deemed  inexpressibly  more  worthy  of  attention,  than 
the  aspect  of  the  starry  heavens  iu  their  solemn  midnight 
magnificence — the  most  august  spectacle  of  nature — for  it 
will  be  seen  creating  for  us  our  eternal  state  :  and  why 
should  we  not  deem  it  so  now  ?  To  cleanse  the  air,  under 
certain  circumstances,  philosophy  had  devised  a  method  of 
straining,  and  even  searching,  that  subtle  element  for  eve- 
ry particle  of  matter  injurious  to  life;  did  we  duly  care 
for  the  health  of  the  soul,  the  morality  of  Jesus  would 
teach  us  the  nobler  philosophy,  the  more  vital  art,  of  sub- 
jecting the  inner  atmosphere  of  the  soul  to  a  process  of  ex- 
amination, in  which  the  faintest  rudiments  of  evil  would 
be  detected,  and  rejected  as  seeds  of  death. 

V.  But  the  morality  which  Jesus  inculcated  penetrates 
deeper  than  to  the  thoughts ;  it  goes  down  to  that  which 
originates  and  gives  character  to  thought  itself — to  motive. 
Conscious  that  the  vilest  motives  may  co-exist  with  the 
fairest  actions,  men  have  ever  made  it  a  favorite  object  to 
have  their  character  estimated  by  professions  and  appear- 
ances. But  the  morality  of  Jesus  will  accept  nothing  for 
virtue  which  is  not  pure  in  its  origin  :  it  proposes  to  re- 
store the  reign  of  motive.  'Except  your  righteousness,' 
said  he,  '  shall  exceed  the  righteousness  of  the  Scribes  and 
Pharisees,  ye  shall  in  no  case  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.'  The  radical  defect  of  their  piety  was,  that  it  was 
only  superficial :  a  robe  of  light  assumed  to  conceal  the 
fiend  of  darkness.  Their  actions  were  the  outside  of  the 
platter,  burnished  arid  clean  ;  but  their  motives  were  the 
inside,  polluted  with  their  excess.  Their  professions 
were  'like  graves  which  appear  not,  and  the  men  that 
walk  over  them,  are  not  aware  of  them.'  Their  piety  was 


41 2  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

the  4  whited  sepulchre,  which  indeed  appears  beautiful  with- 
out ;'  the  motive  which  produced  it  was  the  corruption  and 
death  within.  They  gave  alms  ;  but  it  was  only  when  the 
trumpet  sounded,  to  attract  the  notice  of  the  public ;  and, 
from  this  ostentation  the  Saviour  took  occasion  to  convey 
this  important  truth — that,  in  the  kingdom  of  God,  the  re- 
ward of  a  laudable  action  never  rises  above  the  level  of  the 
motive  which  produces  it ;  if  it  originates,  as  theirs  did,  in 
a  thirst  for  human,  applause,  it  must  not  look  for  the  divine 
approbation;  its  motive  is  the  measure  and  arbiter  of  its 
own  reward. 

But  not  only  did  he  reprobate  impure  and  selfish  mo- 
tives, he  specified  and  even  provided  the  motive  which  ho- 
liness demands — the  principle  which  fills  the  bosom  and 
sways  the  actions  of  God  himself — love.  Like  a  perfect 
legislator,  having  prescribed  the  sublimest  rules  of  life,  he 
proceeded  to  furnish  the  most  generous  and  glorious  prin- 
ciple of  obedience.  He  died  for  us.  As  if  determined 
that  a  sense  of  obligation  should  overpower  and  absorb 
every  other  incentive  to  duty,  he  made  the  obligation 
infinite  by  laying  down  his  life  for  our  redemption.  He 
died  to  secure  us  from  the  penalty  of  the  law  we  had  bro- 
ken, that  he  might  bring  us  under  irresistible  obligation  to 
obey  the  law  which  he  enacted.  In  the  place  of  the  two 
tables  of  stone,  he  substituted  the  cross,  inscribed  with  the 
memorials  of  his  love,  and  of  our  duty.  He  erected  his 
cross,  and  constituted  it  at  once  the  seat  of  legislation  and 
the  altar  of  sacrifice.  '  When  Moses  had  spoken  'every 
precept  to  all  the  people  according  to  the  law,  he  sprinkled 
with  blood  both  the  book  and  all  the  people,  saying,  This 
is  the  blood  of  the  testament  which  God  had  enjoined  unto 
you  :'  when  Jesus  had  completed  his  code  of  divine  mor- 
ality, he  sprinkled  it  with  his  own  most  precious  blood, 
saying,  '  If  ye  love  me,  keep  my  commandments.  Great* 


HIS       PRACTICALNESS.  413 

er  love  hath  no  man  than  this,  that  a  man  lay  down  his 
life  for  his  friends :  ye  are  my  friends,  if  ye  do  whatsoever 
I  command  you.' 

It  is  true  that  while  inculcating  his  divine  precepts,  the 
piacular  and  vicarious  nature  of  his  death  was  not  under- 
stood by  those  whom  he  addressed.  But  not  only  were 
his  injunctions  copiously  interspersed  with  allusions  to  his 
grace,  and  descriptions  of  his  remedial  relations  to  man; 
he  required  faith  in  himself,  whatever  he  might  do,  or  be- 
come, as  the  great  work  of  God.  '  This  is  the  work  of 
God>  that  ye  believe  on  him  whom  he  hath  sent ; '  a  com- 
mand which  was  anticipatory  and  prospective  of  his  ap- 
proaching death,  for  it  foresaw  that  their  faith  in  him  would 
have  shortly  to  contemplate  the  amazing  fact  of  his  death 
for  the  remission  of  sins,  and  would  thus  possess  them  with 
that  love  which  is  the  great  evangelical  motive  to  obedi- 
ence. On.  the  foresight  of  this  approaching  event,  he  le- 
quired  of  his  disciples  that  love  should  be  the  ruling  mo- 
tive of  their  conduct,  as  though  his  death  had  already  trans- 
pired.— Whatever  they  did,  they  were  to  do  it  in  his  name  ; 
from  a  principle  of  obedience  to  his  will,  and  obligation  to 
his  grace.  If  they  received  a  disciple;  they  were  to  do  it 
in  the  name  of  a  disciple ;  making  the  fact  of  disciple- 
ship,  his  relation  and  resemblance  to  Christ,  the  object  of 
their  regard.  *  Whosoever  shall  receive  one  of  such  chil^ 
dren  in  my  name,  receivtth  me.  Whosoever  shall  give 
you  a  cup  of  water  to  drink  in  my  name,  because  ye  be- 
long to  Christ,  verily  I  say  unto  you,  he  shall  not  lose  his 
reward.  Whosoever  shall  lose  his  life  for  my  sake  and 
the  gospel's,  the  same  shall  save  it.' 

Now,  considering  the  depraved  condition  of  our  nature, 
the  appointment  of  love  as  the  moving  principle  of  our 
obedience,  might  seem  to  ^exceed  in  boldness  the  loftiest 
flight  of  the  most  romantic  theorist.  But  he,  who  knew 


414  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

all  the  workings  of  our  mysterious  nature,  foresaw  that  his 
miraculous  death  for  our  redemption  would  give  rise  to  a 
cause  fully  commensurate  to  the  proposed  effect.  And  the 
history  of  his  church,  from  that  period  to  the  present,  is  a 
comment  on  his  wisdom  and  benevolence  ;  it  demonstrates 
that  his  death  gave  a  new  motive  in  the  world;  brought 
into  operation  a  principle,  which  meeting  and  uniting  with 
every  other  principle  of  virtue  in  the  human  heart,  arid  as- 
similating to  itself  all  that  is  foreign  tb  its  nature,  turns 
every  thing  it  encounters  into  an  accession  of  power,  and 
holds  the  soul  for  Christ,  and  in  cordial  allegiance  to  him. 
Like  the  great  but  unobtrusive  operations  of  God  in  na- 
ture, it  is  silently  but  constantly  at  work,  achieving  the 
mightiest  effects  in  the  soul  of  man,  converting  his  human 
into  divine,  and  raising  him  from  a  state  of  close  compan- 
ionship with  demons,  to  the  society  of  the  blessed,  and  the 
vision  of  God.  Issuing  from  the  cross,  it  has  more  than 
the  power  of  moral  gravitation  ;  for,  while  it  retains  the 
Christian  in  the  orb  of  duty,  it  propels  him  forward  at  the 
same  time.  And  if,  in  mechanics  the  strength  of  a  partic- 
ular power  is  displayed  in  the  number  of  opposing  forces 
which  it  overcomes,  what  must  be  the  potency  of  that  prin- 
ciple which  overcomes  the  world,  wrestles  with  satanic 
agency,  conquers  the  love  of  life  itself,  and  which  makes 
its  way  through  a  host  of  adverse  powers,  mastering  them 
all ;  a  principle  whose  lowest  degree  of  operation  results 
in  acts  of  heroism  and  triumph,  and  which  generates  all 
the  obedience  God  receives,  from  man. 

VI.  But  not  only  do  we  need  an  actuating  principle  ; 
being  put  into  a  state  of  activity ;  we  also  require  an  end 
to  aim  at;  accordingly  the  morality  of  Jesus,  having  sup- 
plied us  with  a  principle  which  allies  us  to  God,  points  us 
to  an  object,  and  gives  a  direction  to  that  principle  which 


HIS       PRACTICALNESS.  415 

terminates  in  God  :  the  glory  and  enjoyment  of  the  Divine 
Being.     Uninspired  morality,  the  offspring  of  ignorance, 
or  passion,  or  pride,  refers   us  to  inferior  objects ;  to   the 
indiscriminate  love  of  pleasure,  the  avoidance  of  pain,  the 
(dictates  of  nature,  or  to  the    greatest  present  advantage  ; 
(and  if  I  do  not  enlarge  on  these  various  theories  of  hu- 
man ethics,  it  is  only  from  the  fear   of  desecrating  the  di- 
vine morality  of  him  who  is  soon  to  sit  in  judgment  on  us 
all ;  )  but  the  ethics  of  Jesus  include  every  allowable  infe- 
rior object,  by  proposing  an  end  above  and  beyond  them  all. 
Having  shown  us  the  character  of  God  as  the  first  good, 
and  the  first  fair,  he  makes  it  evident  that  our  happiness 
consists  in   the  imitation  and  enjoyment  of  that  infinite  ex- 
cellence.     He    does  this,   generally,  by  requiring  us  to 
make  the  will  of  God  the  rule  of  our  conduct ;    for  it    is 
not  in  our  power  to  render  greater  honor  to  God  than   by 
thus  placing  our  immortal  interests  in  his  hands.     *  Bless- 
ed are  they  that  hear  the  word  of  God  and  keep  it,'     And 
more  particularly,  he  prescribes  the  divine  glory  as  our 
end  and  aim,  in  declarations  such  as  this,    '  No  man  can 
serve  two    masters ;    for  either  he  will   love  the  one  and 
hate  the  other,  or  else  he  will  hold  to  the  one  and  despise 
the  other  ;  ye  cannot  serve  God  and  mammon  ; '    thus,  by 
inference,  erecting  the  glory  of  God  into  a  supremacy,  be- 
fore which  every  other  object  must  fall  down  and  do  hom- 
age.    And  how  emphatically  did  his  own  conduct  incul- 
cate the  same  sentiment :  *  I  came,'  said  he,  *  not  to  do  mine 
own  will,  ,but  the  will  of  him  that  sent  me.     My  meat  is  to 
do  the  will  of  him  that  sent  me,  and  to   finish  his  work.' 
And  when  entering  the  shadow  of  that  hour  of  darkness, 
in  which  his  life  of  suffering  and  reproach  was  to  be  con- 
summated in  a  death  of  ignominy  and  agony,  he  fixed  his 
eye  on  the  glory  of  God,  and  exclaimed,  '  Father,  glorify 
thy  name.' 


416  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

It  is  no  valid  objection  to  the  loftiness  of  this  object*  that, 
being  pure,  it  is  only  adapted  to  a  state  of  sinless  perfec- 
tion ;  it  is  addressed  to  our  imperfect  nature  as  one  of  the 
means  of  restoring  us  to  that  perfection  for  which  we  are 
destined.  And,  besides  the  agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  of 
whose  help  we  have  yet  to  speak,  the  gospel,  unlike  the 
law,  while  it  demands  and  provides  for  our  ultimate  per- 
fection, and  could  be  satisfied  with  nothing  less,  is  yet  sat- 
isfied, for  the  present,  if  it  sees  us  advancing  in  holiness. 
It  infuses  into  our  nature  a  motive,  adapted,  by  its  very 
loftiness,  to  sustain  its  office  ;  for,  were  it  less  exalted,  the 
depressing  influences  of  sin  would  draw  it  down  to  their 
own  low  level,  and  destroy  it ;  but  now,  though  it  meets 
with  many  a  check,  and  mingles  with  much  pollution,  it. 
remains  uncorrupted  as  light,  and  never  fails  eventually  to 
triumph,  leavening  humanity  with  its  own  purity.  It  pro- 
poses, for  our  aim,  an  object  fitted  by  the  infinity  of  its  ex- 
cellence to  engage  our  pursuit — for  that  object  is  final ; 
had  an  inferior  end  been  set  before  us,  we  should  have  had 
a  pretext  for  discontent,  for  we  should  have  felt  ourselves 
capable  of  a  higher  aim  than  was  assigned  us.  It  strength- 
ens our  principles  by  simplifying  them  ;  expelling  some 
from  our  hearts  j  and  reducing  those  that  remain  under 
the  sway  of  a  reigning  affection,  which  gives  to  the  soul 
the  harmony,  simplicity,  and  singleness  of  intention  of  '  a 
little  child.'  But  this  sanctification  is  a  process ;  and,  like 
that  change  of  one  political  government  for  another,  that 
setting  up  of  a  new  kingdom  in  the  heart,  to  which  it  is 
compared,  it  encounters  many  an  obstacle,  and  asks  time 
for  adjustment  and  consolidation. 

It  is,  indeed,  impossible  to  say  whether,  in  the  present 
state,  the  great  motive  of  the  gospel  ever  exists  pure  and 
uncompounded.  Principles  of  action  are  too  subtle  for 
analysis  ;  they  elude  our  most  anxious  but  coarse  attempts 


HIS       PRACTICALNESS.  417 

to  reduce  them  to  their  elements.  The  motive,  which,  to 
our  eye,  looks  pure  as  light,  might,  could  we  examine  it 
through  a  moral  prism,  prove  to  our  astonishment,  to  be 
many-colored.  The  aim  which  we  regard  as  in  a  straight 
line  to  the  glory  of  God,  might,  could  we  obtain  a  com- 
prehensive view  of  its  course,  appear  like  a  stream  mean- 
dering to  the  ocean,  touching  at  every  accessible  point,  and 
taking  every  object  in  the  way,  consistent  with  reaching 
its  final  destination.  But  indirect  and  compounded  as  is  the 
best  principle  of  human  action,  the  Great  Teacher  would 
have  us  raise  our  eye  to  the  highest  point,  and  aim  at  the 
loftiest  mark  in  the  universe.  Unhinging  us  from  the' cen- 
tre of  self  on  which  we  have  turned,  he  supplies  us  with 
a  common  centre  in  God.  The  eye  which  has  glanced  at 
the  unclouded  sun,  is  unable,  for  a  time,  to  recognize  the 
most  familiar  objects  of  earth  ;  he  unveils  to  us  the  splen- 
dors of  the  eternal  throne — and  the  grandeur  and  wealth, 
and  most  attractive  objects  of  the  world,  fade  and  vanish 
from  our  view  ;  he  calls  us  away  from  the  limited  and  sor- 
did pursuits  of  time,  takes  us  into  the  counsels  of  God,  in- 
vites us  to  join  hands  with  Providence,  to  mingle  in  the 
operations  of  almighty  love  in  renewing,  and  beautifying, 
and  making  happy  a  world  of  immortal  beings. 

Without  destroying  the  rotary  principle  of  self-interest, 
by  which  every  man  resembles  the  diurnal  motion  of  the 
globe,  he  gives  to  us  a  momentum,  and  assigns  to  us  an 
orbit,  of  which  God  is  the  centre,  and  which  transports  us, 
in  effect,  into  the  most  distant  parts  of  the  universe,  placing 
us  in  relationship  to  every  part,  and  blending  us  with  the 
great  whole.  He  directs  us  to  pray  that  earth  may  copy 
the  example,  and  rival  the  obedience  of  heaven,  where  the 
glory  of  God  is  the  point  from  which  every  action  starts, 
and  the  goal  at  which  it  terminates.  'Sacred  to  God,'  is 
to  be  inscribed  on  all  our  possessions,  in  the  use  of  which 
26 


418  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

we  are  to  consult  his  honor  and  acquiesce  in  his  arrange- 
ments. He  invites  us  to  take  part  in  a  concert  of  praise 
which  ascribes  '  kingdom,  and  power,  arid  glory,'  to  God 
supreme  ;  a  concert  in  which  earth  is  once  more  to  chime 
and  chord  with  heaven  ;  and  which  is  finally  destined  to 
be  universal,  when  '  everything  that  hath  breath  shall 
praise  the  Lord.'  In  the  mean  time,  like  the  solar  splen- 
dor, our  light  is  so  to  shine  before  men,  that  they,  seeing 
our  good  works  may  glorify  our  Father  Avho  is  in  heaven  : 
may  be  constrained  to  take  part  in  the  divine  concert. 
Opening  before  us  a  career  of  glory  in  which  angels  are 
our  competitors,  he  would  have  us  to  stop  short  at  no  attain- 
ment, till  the  will  of  God  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  done  in 
heaven  ;  he  would  have  us  be  satisfied  with  no  reward, 
till  we  can  mingle  the  radiance  of  our  crowns  with  the 
emanations  of  the  paternal  throne. 

VII.  The  holiness  which  the  ethics  of  the  gospel  in- 
culcate, acknowledges  no  standard  but  God.  Man  is  an 
imitative  creature.  Having  lost  his  original  likeness  to 
God,  he  involuntarily  discuses  the  insufficiency  of  his 
nature,  and  a  sense  of  the  loss  he  has  sustained,  by  look- 
ing out  of  himself  for  precedent  and  example  in  all  he  does  ; 
while  the  facility  with  which  he  lets  himself  down,  and 
adapts  himself  to  the  low  circumstances  into  which  he  has 
sunk,  reveals  the  awful  entireness  of  the  revolution  his  na- 
ture has  undergone.  But,  if  his  character  is  to  be  a  copy, 
how  important  that  the  model  should  be  of  the  best  descrip- 
tion, of  a  description  which  is  likely  to  elevate  and  im- 
prove his  nature,  to  develope  its  powers,  and  fill  it  with  all 
the  excellence  of  which  it  is  capable.  But  where  was 
such  a  model  to  be  found?  where,  among  all  the  speci- 
mens of  virtue  which  earth  has  owned,  and  even  all  the 
ideal  forms  of  worth  the  imagination  had  pourtrayed? 


HIS       PRACTICALNESS.  419 

Man  had  lost  even  the  idea  of  moral  perfection.  Such  ex- 
cellence can  be  understood  only  by  sympathy;  but  for  this 
sin  had  disqualified  him  ;  and  hence  the  neccessity  of  his 
regeneration  into  the  divine  image,  before  he  can  under- 
stand what  that  ima^e  is.  To  have  selected  the  best,  the 

o 

least  imperfect  of  human  characters  for  imitation,  would 
have  been  therefore  to  erect  a  defective  standard  ;  and  of 
this,  the  part  which,  most  likely,  would  have  been  first 
copied  into  his  nature,  would  have  been  its  faults  and  im- 
perfections. Besides,  the  period  might  have  come  when 
he  had  succeeded  in  equalling  his  model ;  the  resemblance 
is  complete ;  but  he  feels  himself  capable  of  higher  attain- 
ments still ;  where  now  is  the  pattern  for  him  to  copy  ? 
He  wants  one  whose  excellence  knows  no  limits,  but  which 
shall  continue  to  enlarge  as  he  approaches  it,  and  to  un- 
fold new  beauties  as  he  becomes  capable  of  appreciating 
and  imitating  them,  in  endless  progression  ;  in  fine,  the 
only  example  suitable  to  our  nature,  ib  a  perfect  example. 
The  blessed  Saviour  supplies  this  neccessity :  '  Be  ye  per- 
fect, saith  he,  '  even  as  your  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect.' 
And  what  an  honor  does  he  confer  on  our  nature,  by  sim- 
ply exhorting  us  to  attempt  so  high  an  example  !  What- 
ever of  excellence  the  universe  contains,  is  only  a  faint 
resemblance  copied  from  Deity.  All  created  goodness,  in 
heaven  and  earth,  is  derived  from  him  as  its  only  fountain  ; 
and  could  all  this  excellence  be  collected  and  concentred 
in  one  being,  that  glorious  being  would  still  fall  infinitely 
short  of  the  supreme  Perfection.  In  exhorting  us  then  to 
attempt  the  remotest  imitation  of  him,  the  Saviour  was  put- 
ting an  honor  on  our  nature,  which,  of  itself,  should  Le 
sufficient  to  lift  us  out  of  the  world  and  sin,  and  to  fill  us 
with  high  and  heroic  aims.  And,  to  encourage  us  to  en- 
gage in  this  great  endeavor,  he  not  only  reminds  us  that 
God  is  our  Father,  thus  appealing  to  our  filial  love; — for 


420  T  H]E      GREAT       TEACHER. 

one  of  the  earliest  characteristics  of  a  child  is  that  he  at- 
tempts to  imitate  his  father;  and  any  action  carries  with  it 
a  sufficient  recommendation  in  his  eyes,  if  his  father  does 
it;  but,  in  order  to  bring  the  divine  example  within  the 
scope  and  compass  of  our  feeble  endeavors,  he  humanized 
and  embodied  it  in  his  own  life.  *  He  that  hath  seen  me,' 
saith  he,  '  hath  seen  the  Father  also  ; '  hath  seen  the  char- 
acter of 'the  eternal  Father  acted  out  and  submitted  to  hu- 
man imitation.  And  so  softened  and  subdued  is  that  ex- 
ample, as  seen  in  him,  that  the  babe  in  Christ  beholds  in 
it  features  which  he  hopes  and  aspires  to  resemble  j  so  at- 
tractive is  it,  that  all  the  family  of  God,  in  heaven  and 
earth,  have  their  eyes  habitually  fixed  on  it  in  holy  and 
delighted  contemplation  ;  so  perfect  is  it,  that  the  least  de- 
viation from  it  is  sin,  and  the  least  approach  to  it  a  step  to- 
wards holiness ;  and  so  great  and  glorious  is  it,  that  the 
spirits  of  the  just  made  perfect,  and  the  angels  before  the 
throne,  have  higher  conceptions  of  it  at  this  moment  than 
they  have  ever  had  before :  and  so  their  conceptions  of  it 
will  go  on  perpetually  enlarging,  and  their  admiration  con- 
stantly increasing,  while  they  will  always  feel  that  there  is 
in  it  an  unfathomed  excellence,  an  infinite  perfection,  still 
remaining. 

The  Divine  Redeemer,  by  thus  making  the  character  of 
God  exemplary  in  his  own  life,  has  graciously  adapted  it 
to  universal  imitation.  Uniting  in  his  person  the  ex- 
tremes of  wealth  and  poverty^  majesty  and  abasement, 
po\\er  and  weakness,  his  example,  in  one  or  other  of  its 
aspects,  is  accommodated  to  every  variety  of  condition.  It 
teaches  the  highest,  that  there  is  an  order  of  greatness 
distinct  from  all  that  earth  can  confer,  and  superior  to  it; 
and  it  reminds  the  lowest,  that  they  can  invest  their  state 
with  grandeur,  and  finally  attain  an  elevation  of  excellence 
from  which  the  inequalities  of  life  will  appear  on  a  level  5 


HIS       PRACTICALNESS.  421 

while  to  every  intermediate  condition,  it  presents  a  phase 
especially  suited  for  study  and  imitation.  And  what  a  mo- 
tive to  imitation  arises  from  the  fact,  that  he  who  has  thus 
become  our  examplar,  is  himself  occupied  in  the  perpetual 
inspection  of  our  conduct.  '  Lo,'  saith  he  to  his  disciples, 
'  I  am  with  you  always.'  By  moving  in  the  presence 
even  of  a  man  of  a  vigorous  and  commanding  character, 
we  gradually  imbibe  his  spirit  and  opinions  ;  on  this  prin- 
ciple it  was,  that  a  heathen  philosopher  advised  his  disci- 
ples to  imagine  themselves  constantly  acting  under  the 
eye  of  some  ancient  sage  renowned  for  virtue;  we  can 
never  lift  our  eye  without  encountering  the  look  of  our 
Divine  Mister.  We  never  move  out  of  his  presence,  nor 
does  he  ever  withdraw  his  eye  from  us:  and  as,  in  copy- 
ing the  productions  of  ancient  genius,  the  admiring  artist 
takes  up  his  station  before  his  model,  and,  that  he  may  not 
omit  a  single  line  or  shade,  raises  his  eye  every  moment 
to  scan  the  original,  so  we  are  to  avail  ourselves  of  his 
perpetual  presence,  by  recurring  in  thought  to  his  divine 
example,  preparatory  to  every  step  we  take ;  and  as  the 
soldier  in  actual  conflict  is  instantly  nerved  with  additional 
vigor  on  catching  the  glance  of  his  leader;  so  we  shall  be 
braced  to  redoubled  energy  in  the  field  of  duty,  while  con- 
scious of  the  presence  of  the  Lord  of  hosts,  the  Captain  of 
salvation. 

Were  the  world  to  lose  the  idea  of  the  character  and 
example  of  God,  it  would  forthwith  rapidly  retrograde 
towards  the  lowest  point  of  depravity  ;  earth  would  from 
that  moment  begin  to  compete  with  hell,  in  a  fearful  enter- 
prize  and  rivalry  of  sin.  The  possession  of  this  idea,  as 
it  is  exhibited  and  secured  to  us  in  the  gospel,  is  the  safe- 
guard of  all  morality,  the  germ  of  all  real  excellence. 
Barely  to  apprehend  it,  even,  is  an  era  in  the  understand- 
ing ;  but  to  conceive  the  desire  of  copying  it,  is  a  lift  in 


THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

the  scale  of  excellence  which  gives  us  the  sympathy  of 
angels,  and  places  us,  as  at  a  bound,  within  sight  of  the 
gate  of  heaven.  It  ventilates  the  human  breast  of  everv 
thing  sordid,  groveling,  and  impure;  and  turns  through 
it  a  cleansing  and  invigorating  current  of  heavenly  influ- 
ence. The  student  in  art  is  sent  to  refine  his  taste,  and 
exalt  his  genius,  by  the  patient  investigation  of  the  great 
masters  of  antiquity:  the  student  in  holiness  is  referred  to 
him  who  is  the  exemplar  of  all  that  is  good,  the  original 
of  all  that  is  fair:  and  no  sooner  does  he  begin  to  admire 
than  he  begins  to  partake;  he  is  'changed  into  the  same 
image  from  glory  to  glory.'  Possessed  with  the  idea  of 
God,  he  is  enamored  of  all  he  meets  with  that  is  beauti- 
ful and  good  :  but  instead  of  resting  in  any  fragmentitious 
excellence,  it  only  sends  him  in  thought  to  the  great  Arch- 
etype, with  whom,  by  an  instinctive  act  of  the  mind,  he 
compares  it  and  so  estimates  its  worth. 

In  the  universe  of  intelligent  beings,  the  character  of 
God  is  the  centre  to  which  all  that  is  virtuous  and  obedient 
gravitates  :  the  authority  with  which  every  enlightened 
conscience  is  in  constant  intercourse;  the  appointed  ren- 
dezvous from  every  part  of  creation,  to  which  all  the  hosts 
that  have  retained  or  resumed  their  allegiance,  resort,  to 
renew  their  oath,  and  to  reinforce  their  strength.  And,  in 
the  heart  of  every  individual  believer,  this  exalted  con- 
ception of  the  divine  character  reigns  supreme.  It  is  a 
principle  and  a  power  which  awes  every  other  fear,  expels 
every  rival  authority,  and  commands  him  to  fear  that  Being 
only  who  can  cast  both  soul  and  body  into  hell.  It  is  a 
nucleus,  around'which  '  whatsoever  things  are  honest,  just, 
pure,  lovely,  and  of  good  report,'  collect  and  crystallize. 
'  If  there  be  any  virtue,  and  if  there  be  any  praise,'  this  is 
the  point  about  which  they  form,  and  brighten,  and  acquire 
their  splendor.  Claiming  the  entire  homage  of  the  heart, 


HIS       PRACTICALNESS.  423 

it  receives  the  subjection  of  every  thought,  and  beholds 
every  other  name  of  power  withdraw  and  vanish  ;  while, 
capable  of  perpetual  accretion  and  aggrandizement,  it  comes 
at  length  to  fill  the  soul,  and  to  constitute  the  sole  principle 
of  holy  action. 

VIII.  We  must  not  omit  to  notice  the  ad  vantage  which 
the  preaching  of  Jesus  derived,  from  the  simple  and  au- 
thoritative manner  in  which  it  was  delivered,  and  the  sanc- 
tions in  which  it  was  invested.  In  putting  a  man  on  any 
given  course  of  action,  it  is  important  to  his  progress  and 
perseverance,  that  he  should  feel  unlimited  confidence  in 
the  wisdom  and  authority  of  his  patron.  If  the  instruc- 
tions he  receives  are  couched  in  ambiguous  terms  or  de- 
livered in  a  tone  of  uncertainty,  or  enforced  with  the  ver- 
bosity of  a  special  pleader,  the  methodical  clauses  and 
measured  distinctions  of  the  logician,  the  endless  excep- 
tions and  provisoes  of  the  jurist,  or  the  misty  film-work 
and  cold  abstractions  of  the  metaphysician,  he  will  most 
probably  suspect  that  his  instructor  has  yet  to  form  a  defi- 
nite idea  of  his  own  wishes  ;  or  that  he  doubts  their  prac- 
ticability ;  or  feels  that  their  questionable  propriety  requires 
the  protecting  veil  of  a  disguising  sophistry  :  and  the  prob- 
ability is,  that,  possessed  with  these  very  natural  suspi- 
cions, he  will  never  attempt  to  carry  the  instructions  into 
practice;  or  will  waste  the  feeling  and  passion  necessary 
to  action,  in  harrassing  alternations  between  right  and 
wrong ;  or  will  construe  the  first  obstacle  he  encounters^ 
in  the  course  proposed,  into  a  providential  intimation  that 
he  is  not  in  the  path  of  duty,  and  should  instantly  turn 
back. 

The  injunctions  of  Jesus  were  clear,  determinate,  and 
imperative  ;  combining,  at  once,  the  simplicity  of  a  father 
directing  his  child,  and  the  authority  of  a  king  whose  will 


424  THE      GREAT       TEACHER. 

is  law.  Taking  his  stand  on  the  firm,  broad,  uncomprom- 
ising principles  of  morality,  he  spoke,  as  conscience  itself 
speaks,  concisely,  energetically,  and  to  the  point.  The 
only  logic  he  employed,  was  the  logic  of  the  heart;  his 
only  auditor,  common  sense.  Loading  every  sentence 
with  meaning,  he  levelled  it  direct  at  the  breast.  His 
style  seems  not  merely  to  breathe  a  solicitude  that  it 
may  be  understood  :  it  seems  to  burn  with  a  resolution  that 
it  will  be  felt,  that  it  will  make  itself  to  be  remembered. 
This  is  true  of  the  style  of  all  his  commands  but  there 
are  some  of  them  which  go  even  beyond  this ;  they  not 
only  effect  for  themselves  a  lodgment  in  the  memory,  but 
when  once  there,  they  defy  oblivion,  nothing  can  dislodge 
them. 

The  unauthorized  precepts  of  other  moralists  are  only 
guesses  at  right,  and  should,  therefore,  be  uttered  with  dif- 
fidence, and  received  with  discretion.  But  he  spoke,  as 
the  organ  and  oracle  of  God,  for  the  universe  and  for  eter- 
nity. He  knew  that  his  precepts  are  to  constitute  the  laws 
of  the  last  day :  and  that  each  of  them  is  to  sustain  the 
everlasting  awards  of  myriads  of  immortal  beings.  If 
any  one  could  hear  them  enjoined,  and  yet  refuse  to  them 
unbounded  regard,  his  miracles  came  to  his  aid,  collected 
and  clustered  around  to  abet  and  confirm  them.  He  called 
in  the  terrors  and  powers  of  the  world  to  come,  to  augment 
their  sanction.  If  we  consider  his  character  and  office, 
his  relation  to  man  and  to  the  invisible  world,  we  shall 
feel  that,  while  propounding  his  laws,  he  occupied  a  posi- 
tion more  imposing  than  that  of  the  mount  that  burn- 
ed :  that  he  legislated  as  in  an  ampitheatre  filled  with  the 
attendant  thrones  and  dominions  of  heaven,  \vith  the  judg- 
ment seat  in  perspective,  the  rewards  of  glory  piled  up  in 
sight,  the  penal  fires  of  perdition  flaring  up  at  intervals, 
and  darting  forth  volcanic  flashes  from  an  unknown  depth. 


HIS       PRACTICALNESS.  425 

and  God  meanwhile  corroborating  his  authority  in  accents 
of  thunder,  and  saying,  '  This  is  my  beloved  Son,  hear  ye 
him.' 

IX.  How  unspeakably  superior  is  the  holiness  of  the 
gospel  to  that  of  mere  human  moralists,  not  only  as  it 
raises  the  standard  of  excellence  higher,  even  up  to  an  im- 
itation of  the  blessed  God,  but  also  as  it  supplies  the  neces- 
sary hope  and  help  to  obedience.  They  only  tell  us  what 
they  conceive  to  be  our  duty,  and  there  they  leave  us  in 
our  helplessness  5  but  Jesus  provides  us  with  motives,  sets 
before  us  the  incentive  of  his  own  example,  points  us  to 
the  throne  of  grace,  and  engages  to  meet  us  there  with  the 
aid  of  his  Holy  Spirit.  When  the  mind  is  first  awak- 
ened to  a  consciousness  of  its  guilt,  it  is  inclined  to  look  at 
those  things  most  which  serve  to  corroborate  its  fears,  and 
deepen  its  gloom  ;  the  intrinsic  evil  of  sin,  the  immutable 
requirements  of  the  divine  law,  the  aggravating  peculiari- 
ties of  its  own  transgressions,  these  are  the  fearful  aspects 
of  its  condition  which  concentrate  its  attention,  and  aug- 
ment its  dismay.  Revolting  at  the  thought  of  aggrava- 
ting its  guilt  by  looking  to  the  general  goodness  of  God,  it 
turns  away  from  him  who  would  give  it  encouragement 
from  that  source,  as  from  a  sophist  and  a  foe.  It  derives  a 
morbid  satisfaction  from  nourishing  its  anguish ;  and 
whether  or  not  it  will  ever  essay  a  first  step  in  the  way 
to  heaven,  depends  on  the  practicability  of  inspiring  it  with 
hope. 

To  this  crushed  and  overwhelmed  state  of  mind  the  Sa- 
viour draws  nigh,  and  ministers  the  balm  of  consolation. 
'Blessed,'  saith  he,  'are  they  that  mourn;  for  they  shall 
be  comforted.  Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit ;  for  theirs 
is  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Blessed  are  the  meek ;  for 
they  shall  inherit  the  earth.'  Though  less  than  nothing  in 


426  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

their  own  eyes,  he  tells  them  that  in  his  estimation  there 
is  a  wealth  in  their  poverty  of  spirit,  more  ample  and  en- 
during than  all  the  treasures  of  earth,  a  majesty  in  their 
meekness,  to  which  pride  can  never  erect  itself  and  attain ; 
and,  in  their  sorrow  for  sin,  in  every  tear  they  shed,  an  im- 
mortal seed,  the  fruit  of  which  will  be  peace  and  unending 
joy.  Though  the  world  in  its  depravity  and  blindness 
may  continue  to  hold  their  character  in  contempt,  he  as- 
sures them  that  the  great  God,  seated  on  the  throne  of  heav- 
en, pronounces  it  blessed  ;  that  the  dowry  which  falls,  ev 
en  now,  to  its  portion,  contains  the  blossomings  of  celestial 
life;  that  as  often  as  the  partakers  of  it  depart  by  death 
from  this  earthly  scene,  he  raises  and  welcomes  them  into 
his  own  kingdom  ;  and,  when  every  earthly  embellish- 
ment shall  have  faded  and  disappeared,  he  will,  with  his 
own  lips,  proclaim  them  happy,  and  in  the  presence  of 
the  universe,  will  crown  them  with  all  the  beatitudes  of 
heaven. 

He  informs  them  that  he  came  into  the  world  to  seek 
and  to  save  that  which  was  lost;  that  his  commission  ex- 
tends to  the  mouth  of  the  bottomless  pit ;  and,  to  show  them 
that  he  goes  to  the  extreme  of  his  commission,  he  points 
them  to  those  whom  he  rescued  at  the  awful  brink,  and 
who  accompanied  him  about  as  the  specimens  and  trophies 
of  his  grace.  By  his  parable  of  the  prodigal,  his  encour- 
aging views  of  the  parental  love  of  God,  his  inspiriting 
invitations  and  promises  of  grace,  he  sought  to  make  des- 
pair impossible,  and  hope  the  first  emotion  of  their  pen- 
itent souls.  He  assures  them,  that  so  far  from  being  unno- 
ticed, they  no  sooner  turn  their  faces  in  the  direction  of 
heaven,  than  their  Father  beholds  them  yet  a  great  way 
ofT;  that  their  first  incipient  desire  for  aid,  brings  an  al- 
mighty agent  to  their  side  :  that,  during  the  hour  of  their 
first  application  for  mercy,  the  place  of  audience  is  kept 


HIS       PRACTICALNESS.  427 

peculiarly  for  them  ;  and  that,  on  the  tidings  of  their  repen- 
tance arriving  in  heaven,  whatever  may  have  engrossed  the 
angelic  harps  till  then,  instantly  and  joyfully  the  theme  is 
changed  to  the  celebration  of  this  new  event.  Having  al- 
lured them  to  the  footstool  of  mercy,  he  stretches  forth  his 
hand  from  the  throne  before  which  they  have  fallen,  and 
lifts  them  up,  places  them  on  their  feet,  and  points  them  to 
the  duties  and  encounters  which  now  await  them. 

To  calculate  on  miraculous  interposition  in  the  ordinary 
affairs  of  life,  savors  of  presumption  and  romance.  But, 
in  the  sphere  of  Christian  hope,  Jesus  has  made  the  extrav- 
agance of  romance  impossible,  by  promising  to  exceed  all 
hope  ;  he  has  given  a  wing  to  our  expectation  which  dis- 
dains all  limit,  for  he  has  declared,  that  whatever  we  ask 
in  his  name  we  shall  receive.  He  meets  the  desponding 
objection  to  which  the  survey  of  our  duties  and  difficulties 
would  give  birth,  and  he  destroys  it  before  it  can  be  utter- 
ed, by  engaging,  '  Ask,  and  ye  shall  receive.'  He  thus 
gives  us  immediate  access  to  the  treasury  of  the  divine  be- 
nevolence :  so  that,  even  in  this  world,  we  can  not  only  ward 
off  and  suspend  around  us  every  evil,  but  we  can  draw 
around  us  every  good  ;  as  though  we  possessed  an  omnip^ 
otent  charm,  we  can  create  around  us  an  atmosphere  of 
peace  and  joy.  He  grants  us  introduction  to  the  armory 
of  God,  and  to  all  the  resources  of  strength ;  so  that,  like 
the  angel  who  had  the  key  of  the  bottomless  pit,  and  a 
great  chain  in  his  hand,  we  can  fetter  the  operations  and 
restrain  the  power  of  the  prince  of  darkness ;  or  we  can 
enter  the  field  of  conflict  and  overpower  him.  To  put  us 
in  progress  towards  heaven,  he  even  guarantees  the  assis- 
tance of  the  Holy  Spirit;  this  is  help  to  which  nothing 
can  be  added,  for  it  is  all-comprehensive  ;  and  nothing  need 
be,  for  it  is  all-sufficient.  It  infuses  omnipotence  into  our 
feeblest  effort,  and  renders  us,  while  moving  in  the  line  of 
duty,  invincible,  and  irresistible. 


428  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

And  he  not  only  inspires  hope  by  supplying  the  neces- 
sary aid,  he  also  quickens  our  activity  in  the  path  of  holi- 
ness by  exhibiting  its  ultimate  reward.  Instead  of  taking 
it  for  granted  that  we  should  be  enamored  of  duty  for  its 
own  sake  alone,  he  evinces  the  kindest  consideration  for 
our  fallen  condition,  by  accompanying  his  commands  with 
appropriate  promises  and  blessings.  Thus,  in  his  ser- 
mon on  the  Mount,  while  inculcating  the  virtues  peculiar 
to  the  Christian  character,  he  associates  each  with  a  divine 
beatitude;  graciously  alluring  us  to  cultivate  the  tree,  by 
engaging  that  all  its  fruit  shall  be  our  own.  And  frequent- 
ly, to  give  an  access  of  fervor  to  our  zeal  he  unveils  the 
prize  which  he  has  promised  to  holy  perseverance,  and 
places  it  distinctly  before  our  eyes :  he  brings  out  all  the 
crowns,  the  regalia  of  heaven,  and  suspends  it  from  his 
throne,  reminding  us  that  it  is  placed  there  to  be  won. 

X.  But,  however  perfect  the  morality  of  the  gospel  may 
be,  and  however  delightful  the  task  of  thus  expatiating  on 
its  excellence,  it  is  necessary  to  remember  that,  like  its  heav- 
enly author,  it  has  not  escaped  the  tongue  of  calumny ; 
though  the  painful  shock  which  this  recollection  inflicts, 
on  those  who  know  the  gospel  best,  may  be  regarded  as  a 
sufficient  refutation  of  its  foes.  Numbers,  indeed,  who 
have  witheld  their  admiration  from  the  Son  of  God  in 
every  other  respect,  have  yet  accorded  the  highest  praise 
to  his  precepts  ;  they  could  not  advert  to  these  without  soon 
exhausting  the  powers  of  language  in  eulogy  and  delight; 
and  to  such,  therefore,  we  might  justifiably  refer  the  im- 
pugners  of  his  code,  to  receive  the  answer  they  need  and 
the  reprobation  they  deserve. 

But  we  would  not  leave  his  morality  to  be  precariously 
defended  by  the  enemies  of  his  cross,  though  we  can  now 
advance  only  a  word  in  its  behalf. 


HIS       PRACTICALNESS.  429 

1.  It  is  objected  that,  wherever  the  gospel  has  come,  dis- 
sension has  more  or  less   invariably  ensued?      It  is  time 
for  such  objectors  to  know,  that  there  is  aa  important  dif- 
ference between  an  incidental  occasion  and  a  direct  cause  ; 
that,  of  whatever  evils  the  gospel   may  be  the  indirect  oc- 
casion, it  is  the  cause    only  of  unmixed  good.     Like   the 
sun,  it  cannot  rise  and  shine  without  being   the  cause  of 
light,  and  life,  and    happiness  to  the  world :  though  there 
are  some  fatal  spots,  on  which  it  cannot  look  without  occa- 
sioning pestilence  and  death. 

2.  Is  it  alleged  against  the  gospel,  that  it  maintains  a 
profound  silence  on  the  subject   of  friendship  as  a   duty  ? 
This  is  its  wisdom.     For  until  it  can  be  shown  that  friend- 
ship is  a  virtue,  whatever  the   kind   of  characters  it  may 
unite ;    that  it  is  a  good  abstractedly  and  for  its  own  sake 
alone,  whatever  the  effects  it  may  produce  ;    and  that,  al- 
though its  formation  depends  on  the  sympathetic  attraction 
of  twin-like  dispositions,  on  the  nicest  balancing  of  feeling 
and  concurrence  of  circumstances,  yet  all  in   every  situa- 
tion enjoy  the  means  of  cementing  it ;  he  who  should  enact 
it  as  a  law,  and  enforce  it  as  a  duty,  would  betray  his  ig- 
norance of  human  nature,  and    evince  that  from  whatever 
quarter  his   credentials  were  derived,  he  was  no  legislator 
sent  from  God.      But,  though    Jesus  has  not    prescribed 
friendship  as  a    proximate  duty,  he  has  done  what  is   far 
more  consonant  with  our  nature,  and  infinitely  more  con- 
ducive to  our  well-being.     In  the  amiable  qualities  which 
his   gospel  produces,  and  the  acts  of    relative   kindness 
which  it  prescribes,  he  has  laid  the  foundation  of  a  friend- 
ship, sanctified  and  eternal.     So  far  from  being  indifferent 
to  this  union  of  souls,  he  has  not  only  set  us  a  most  attract- 
ive example  in    his  own  conduct,  but  by  commanding  his 
followers  to  collect  into  a  church,  he  has  consecrated  the 
social  instinct,  and  built  a  home  for  friendship  to  inhabit; 


430  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

he  has  shown  that  it  is  only  within  the  sacred  pale  of 
Christianity  that  it  can  exist  in  perfection;  only  in  the  soil 
of  religion  that  this  plant  of  paradise,  this  scion  from  the 
tree  of  life,  whose  root  is  grace  and  whose  fruit  is  glory, 
can  bloom  with  freshness  and  vigor.  Having  redeemed  it 
out  of  the  hands  of  the  ungodly,  he  has  sprinkled  it  with 
his  blood,  breathed  on  it  his  own  spirit,  and  given  to  it  a 
life  which  passes  uninjured  through  the  gate  of  death,  and 
emerges  in  the  kingdom  of  God;  where  those  who  are 
the  subjects  of  it  approach  and  fall  down  together  before 
the  eternal  throne,  and  receive  from  his  approving  smile 
the  only  element  wanted  to  crown  it  with  perfection,  the 
element  of  immortality. 

3.  Equally  futile  is  the  charge  which  some  allege,  that 
the  gospel  is  silent  on  the  subject  of  patriotism.  411,  how- 
ever, that  can  be  really  meant  by  such  an  objection  is,  that 
it  says  nothing  of  a  tendency  to  fortify  and  build  up  a  na- 
tion in  its  selfishness  ;  that  it  confers  not  on  one  state  a  • 
right  to  forge  fetters  for  another  ;  that  it  kindles  no  brand 
to  ignite  those  popular  passions  which  nature  has  already 
made  sufficiently  inflammable,  and  to  which  a  vicious  ed- 
ucation has  added  the  dangerous  tendency  of  spontaneous 
combustion.  But,  as  far  as  consistent  with  his  ultimate 
and  unearthly  aim  of  establishing  the  universal  kingdom 
of  God,  our  Lord  has  prescribed  every  general  rule  on 
which  the  welfare  of  a  country  depends;  and  it  would  be 
easy  to  show,  that  no  evil  could  possibly  befall  a  state, 
either  in  its  internal  or  external  relations,  which  had  not 
arisen  from  the  infraction  of  one  or  other  of  his  divine 
laws. 

Besides,  it  should  be  distinctly  remembered,  that  love  of 
country  is  a  phrase  of  very  uncertain  value  ;  that  the  pe- 
riod may  come  when  it  will  fall  into  comparative  disuse, 
since  it  depends  even  for  existence  on  the  continuance  of 


HIS       PRACTICALNESS.  431 

the  present  condition  of  the  world.  Only  let  the  great  so- 
ciety of  nations  harmonize  and  blend — only  let  knowledge 
go  forth  in  its  might,  as  it  is  promising  to  do,  and  throw 
down  the  barriers  of  conventional  prejudice — and  patriot- 
ism will  enlarge  and  lose  itself  in  philanthropy.  This  is 
a  fact  which  is  beginning  to  force  itself  on  the  conviction 
of  the  most  reluctant.  Even  science  cannot  touch  on  this 
theme,  without  becoming  loud  and  prophetic.  It  refuses 
to  entertain  any  project  less  than  the  amelioration  of  the 
species.  It  undertakes  to  convince  mankind  that  every 
true  interest  must  be  universal,  that  good  is  indivisible,  so 
that  to  be  enjoyed  in  perfection  by  one  it  must  be  conferred 
upon  all.  But,  what  science  says,  the  gospel  will  do.  In 
prosecuting  the  march  which  it  has  commenced,  it  consults 
the  map  of  the  world.  As  the  sun  of  righteousness  as- 
cends in  the  firmament,  our  moral  horizon  enlarges  ;  those 
whom  we  had  seen  by  the  brand-light  of  ignorance  disfig- 
ured into  phantoms  which  it  was  thought  merit  to  hate, 
are  shown  to  be  men  whom  it  is  pleasure  to  love;  and 
thus  all  kindreds,  people,  and  tongues,  are  drawn  into  the 
close  relationship  of  a  family  compact,  preparatory  to  their 
final  assembly  in  heaven. 

But,  while  the  gospel  aims  at  universal  benevolence,  it 
does  not  overleap  any  of  the  inner  and  smaller  circles  of 
duty;  and  as  one  of  these,  it  takes  up,  directs,  and  sancti- 
fies the  love  of  country.  In  the  conduct  of  our  blessed 
Lord  we  behold  a  holy  patriotism  personified,  the  love  of 
country  embodied.  Where  did  patriotism  ever  exhibit  a 
nobler  burst  of  sorrow  than  on  Mount  Olivet;  when  'he 
beheld  the  city,  and  wept  over  it,  and  said,  O  Jerusalem, 
Jerusalem,  how  often  would  I  have  gathered  thee,  as  a  hen 
gathereth  her  chickens  under  her  wings,  but  ye  would 
not?'  Whose  patriotism  ever  endured  what  his  did? 
He  had  but  twelve  offices  to  bestow;  Jbut  then  they  were 


432  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

the  highest  out  of  heaven,  and  these  he  bestowed  on  twelve 
of  his  countrymen.  He  had  but  one  gift  to  impart ;  but, 
oh  !  it  comprehends  every  other — the  gift  of  eternal  Jife  ; 
and  this  he  directed  to  be  offered  to  his  country  first,  '  be- 
ginning at  Jerusalem.' 

4.  But  we  will  not  prolong  our  defence  of  evangelical 
morality,  though  the  examination  of  every  fresh  objection 
could  not  fail  to  repay  us  with  the  discovery  of  unforeseen 
excellence.  We  may  confidently  assert  for  it  the  claims  of 
divine  perfection,  and  tranquilly  rest  them  on  an  appeal  to 
its  practical  effects :  '  Men  do  not  gather  grapes  from  thorns, 
nor  figs  from  thistles;  the  tree  is  known  by  its  fruits.' 
Concede  to  Christianity  the  benefit  of  this  criterion,  and  its 
triumph  is  complete.  Follow  it  in  its  progress  from  place 
to  place,  and,  as  it  was  with  its  heavenly  Author  while  here 
on  earth,  its  path  may  be  traced  by  the  song  of  gratitude, 
the  acclaim  of  joy,  which  it  leaves  behind:  whatever 
form  of  misery  and  vice  it  may  overtake,  nothing  but  pu- 
rity and  peace  is  in  its  rear.  If  it  gains  introduction  to  a 
community  already  civilized,  it  takes  all  that  it  finds  there 
of  wise  and  good,  under  its  special  protection  ;  it  gives 
new  motives  to  duty,  new  sanctions  to  law ;  arms  justice 
with  a  new  and  keener  sword,  and  presents  her  with  more 
perfect  balances  than  she  possessed  before;  throws  its 
shield  over  oppressed  and  prostrate  virtue ;  and  becomes 
the  rallying  point,  from  every  quarter,  for  conscience,  and 
truth,  and  hope,  and  right.  Engaged  in  a  perpetual  con- 
flict with  evil,  it  invites  all  ranks  to  enlist  under  its  banners  : 
by  giving  them  an  interest  in  the  result  of  the  struggle,  it 
urges  them  to  arise  in  a  body,  to  make  common  cause 
against  the  common  foe  ;  and  not  merely  to  chase  it  over 
the  borders  of  their  own  community,  but  to  give  it  no 
pause  till  it  has  descended  into  the  pit  from  which  at  first 
it  issued. 


HIS       PRACTICALNESS.  433 

If  the  gospel,  in  fulfillment  of  its  universal  commission, 
visits  a  barbarous  people,  its  advent  among  them  is  like  the 
bursting  forth  of  a  fountain  in  the  heart  of  a  desert — the 
waste  is  changed  into  the  garden  of  the  Lord.  From 
that  moment  they  find  a  place  on  the  page  of  history ;  and 
from  having  been  tethered  to  the  limits  of  a  wilderness, 
and  knowing  nothing  of  their  fellows  beyond,  it  calls  them 
to  take  rank  in  the  commonwealth  of  nations,  opens  to 
them  a  commerce  with  heaven,  and  makes  them  free  of 
every  part  of  the  universe.  It  not  only  lifts  us  out  of  the 
grossness  of  barbarism,  by  acquainting  us  with  the  secret 
of  our  real  birthright;  by  the  new  and  ennobling  employ- 
ment which  it  gives  to  thought,  it  raises  us  also  in  the 
scale  of  intelligent  beings ;  so  that  many  in  finding  it  have 
found  a  mind,  have  exhibited  the  first  symptoms  of  intel- 
lectual consciousness  and  power.  Yes,  thousands,  whom 
ignorance  and  selfishness  had  branded  as  the.  leavings  and 
refuse  of  the  species,  if  not  actually  akin  to  the  beasts  that 
perish,  are  at  this  moment  rising  under  the  fostering  care 
of  the  gospel,  ascribing  their  enfranchisement  to  its  benign 
interposition,  taking  encouragement  from,  its  smiles  to  as- 
sume the  port  and  bearing  of  men,  and,  by  their  acts  and 
aspirations,  retrieving  the  character  and  dignity  of  the 
slandered  human  form.  But  these  are  only  blessings^ac- 
cidental  to  religion,  the  shed  blossoms  of  the  tree  of  life, 
the  dust  of  that  diamond  which  constitutes  her  crowning 
gift.  In  giving  light  to  the  eye  of  the  mind,  and  objects 
of  spiritual  purity  to  the  affections,  and  immortality  to  the 
hopes,  in  showing  us  that  there  is  nothing  too  great  for  us 
to  expect,  or  too  good  for  us  to  attain,  it  is  only  fulfilling 
its  trust  and  calling  us  to  perfection. 

Of  every  other  system  it  may  be  said  that  it  only  actu- 
ates a  part  of  our  nature,  leaving  the   rest  like  a  palsied 
member  of  the  body,  unnoticed  and  unused  ;  to  Christianity 
27 


434  THE       GREAT.      TEACHER. 

alone  belongs  the  high  prerogative  of  calling  every  latent 
principle  of  our  complex  nature  into  action,  giving  appro- 
priate exercise  to  every  function,  and  proportion  to  every 
part ;  of  animating,  and  maturing,  and  circulating  like  an 
etherial  fluid  through  the  whole,  and  bringing  it  to  the 
perfection  of  '  a  man  in  Christ  Jesus.'  Wherever  it  comesr 
it  creates  a  capacity  for  true  enjoyment,  and  puts  all  the 
universe  in  motion  to  gratify  that  capacity.  It  makes  us 
feel  that  we  exist  under  an  obligation  to  be  happy.  Per- 
fect itself,  it  pants  to  behold  perfection  in  every  thing  else ; 
and,  since  it  finds  it  not  already  existing,  it  puts  forth  all 
its  efforts  to  produce  it.  Perfect  from  the  beginning,  it  has 
remained  unchanged,  while  the  arts,  and  sciences,  and 
systems  of  a  dateless  antiquity  have  yielded  to  the  demand 
for  improvement.  It  has  seen  every  thing  human,  contem- 
poraneous with  its  origin,  renovated  and  changed  again  ; 
but,  like  the  Jewish  legislator  when  he  had  survived  his 
generation,  its  eye  is  not  dim,  nor  its  natural  force  abated, 
It  maintains  its  post  in  the  van  of  improvement,  and  points 
the  way  to  enterprise  and  hope,  as  the  anointed  leader  of 
mankind.  And,  however  untried  the  paths,  and  high  the 
distinctions  which  await  them  in  their  onward  course,  it 
will  still  be  seen  in  exemplary  advance,  beckoning  them  on 
to  the  goal  of  perfection.  *  No  living  springs  of  good  shall 
gush  from  their  hidden  depths  in  human  nature,  which 
have  not  been  smitten  into  existence  by  this  rod  of  heaven  ; 
no  forms  of  excellence  shall  arise  to  bless  the  world,  of 
which  it  is  not  the  parent,  and  the  perfect  type.  Only  give 
the  gospel  room  to  plant  its  moral  apparatus,  and  let  it  ob- 
tain the  necessary  fulcrum  for  its  powers,  and  it  will  em- 
ploy a  lever  which  shall  move  the  world  from  the  dark 
vicinity  of  hell,  and  lift  it  into  the  sunlight  and  neighbor- 
hood of  heaven. 

XL     However    incredible  the  statement  may  appear  to 


HIS       PRACTICALNESS.  435 

those  who  are  unacquainted  with  the  chimeras  of  error 
there  is  a  class  of  persons  who,  under  the  presumptuous 
pretence  of  enjoying  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  the 
mind  of  Christ,  and  of  magnifying  his  grace,  profess  to 
glory  in  the  gospel  as  a  dispensation  from  holiness.  That 
such  a  dispensation  would  be  highly  acceptable  to  the  chil- 
dren of  disobedience,  we  can  easily  imagine,  but  that  its 
advent  should  be  ascribed  to  him  whom  hell  itself  ac- 
knowledged to  be  the  Holy  One  of  God,  must  be  regarded 
as  a  master-piece  of  impiety  which  bids  defiance  to  imita- 
tion, as  the  last  triumph  of  infernal  art.  Compared  with 
the  advocates  of  this  blasphemy,  he  who  only  charges  on 
the  gospel  a  defective  morality,  is  a  mere  venial  trifler ;  he 
only  alleges  that  it  is  wanting  in  some  of  the  elements  of 
a  perfect  excellence ;  they  claim  for  it  as  a  peculiar  glory, 
that  it  dispenses  with  all  excellence.  For,  by  affirming 
that  it  discharges  them  from  the  law  as  a  rule  of  life,  they 
virtually  declare  that  it  legalizes  vice,  that  it  grants  them 
a  patent  to  sin  under  its  own-broad  seal,  that  it  naturalizes 
the  alien  and  eternal  outlaw,  sin,  and  makes  it  a  denizen 
of  the  kingdom  of  God.  He,  by  pretending  dissatisfac- 
tion with  its  unfinished  excellence,  is  guilty  of  abating  the 
ardor  and  expectation  of  the  thirsty  inquirer  after  the  wa- 
ter of  life  ;  they  by  adulterating  the  vital  element,  by  in- 
fusing their  own  poisonous  distillation,  turn  the  very  chal- 
ice of  salvation  into  the  cup  of  perdition.  He  wears  no 
mask,  he  bears  the  mark  of  his  master  visibly  stamped  on 
his  forehead,  and  takes  on  himself,  so  far  at  least  as  the 
character  of  the  gospel  is  concerned,  the  undivided  resporj^ 
sibility  of  his  sin  ;  while  they,  under  the  treacherous  guise 
of  an  alliance  with  Christ,  affiliate  their  monstrous  enor- 
mities on  his  holy  gospel,  and  throw  its  hallowed  skirt  over 
the  nakedness  of  their  pollution. 

This,  it  must  be  confessed,  is  a  c  doctrine  of  devils  ;'  it 


436 


THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 


partakes  of  the  infernal  too  palpably  to  be  mistaken  ;  like 
a  stream  of  volcanic  lava,  it  may  be  traced  directly  to  the 
mouth  of  the  pit  which  disgorged  it,  to  scorch  and  desolate 
the  earth  in  its  progress.  If  demons  can  rejoice,  the  suc- 
cessful introduction  of  this  error  into  the  church  must  have 
furnished  them  with  an  occasion  for  exultation  not  Jess 
triumphant  than  that  of  the  first  transgression  :  it  taught 
them  that  the  paradise  of  the  new  creation  is  as  accessible 
as  the  original  Eden,  that  the  upas  can  be  grafted  on  the 
tree  of  life,  that  they  might  confidently  repose  on  the  suc- 
cess of  this  experiment,  and  regard  it  as  final;  secure  that, 
after  this,  there  is  nothing  too  monstrous  to  be  believed,  or 
too  good  to  be  perverted,  when  human  credulity  and  de- 
pravity are  the  materials  to  be  employed.  If  he  of  our  race 
who  lent  himself  to  be  the  first  vehicle  of  this  deadly  senti- 
ment, had  aspired  to  the  bad  pre-eminence  of  eclipsing  the 
first  sinner,  of  enacting  another  fall  of  man,  he  could  not 
have  adopted  a  more  effectual  expedient.  Beyond  all  pro- 
portion of  demerit,  he  has  purchased  for  himself  the  first 
place  in  the  classification  of  the  heretics,  and  troubles,  and 
monsters  of  the  church.  Judas  betrayed  his  master  to  the 
cross ;  but  he  has  betrayed  the  cross  itself,  and  all  its  load- 
ed blessings,  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy  of  God  and  man ; 
his*  name,  like  that  of  the  Iscariot  traitor,  deserves  to  be  the 
synonyme  of  all  that  is  exaggerated  and  enormous  in 
guilt. 

XIT.  Instead,  however,  of  humbling  the  gospel  by  put- 
ting it  on  its  defence  against  such  an  enemy — indeed,  an 
apology  is  due  to  common  sense,  and  to  the  most  ordinary 
piety,  for  having  adverted  to  the  topic — I  shall  draw  to  a 
conclusion  by  adducing  a  few  illustrations  of  the  supreme 
importance  attached  to  holiness  in  the  preaching  of  Christ. 

1.  Every  reformer  of  ancient  -abuses,    every  benefactor 


HIS       PRACTICALNESS.  437 

of  the  species,  must  expect,  on  entering  on  his  godlike  ca- 
reer, to  be  assailed  by  two  antagonist  forces.  He  passes  to 
his  work  through  two  opposing  ranks  ;  the  hosts  of  preju- 
dice draw  out,  and  assail  him  as  an  Abaddon,  a  reckless 
destroyer  of  every  thing  covered  with  the  dust  of  antiquity  ; 
the  lovers  of  change  congratulate  themselves,  that,  at  last, 
they  have  found  a  champion  to  defy  and  destroy  whatever 
is,  In  this  predicament  stood  Christ :  but,  to  silence  sus- 
picion, and  to  leave  the  minds  of  both  parties  at  liberty  to 
accord  to  his  doctrine  undivided  attention,  he  stood  on  the 
threshold  of  his  labors,  and  made  known,  that,  so  far  from 
assailing  the  fundamental  principles  of  law,  upon  them  he 
should  take  his  stand  as  upon  the  terra  finna  of  morality  ; 
that  he  should  make  them  the  foundation  of  all  he  built, 
the  basis  of  a  superstructure  which  should  survive  the  dis- 
solution of  heaven  and  earth, 

2.  Whenever  holiness  came  into  comparison  with  any 
of  those  objects  which  the  world  is  inclined  to  idolize,  he 
omitted  no  opportunity  of  assigning  to  it  a  place  infinitely 
above  them.  Knowledge  is  one  of  these  ob^cts  :  so  pow- 
erful are  its  attractions  to  many,  that  they  cordially  sacri- 
fice property,  and  health,  and  every  thing  in  the  pursuit  of 
it.  But  had  we  mastered  all  the  branches  of  human  science, 
laid  open  all  the  secrets  of  nature,  and  expounded  its  most 
hidden  and  comprehensive  laws  ;  could  we  recall  the  past ; 
control  the  present,  and  by  a  wide  range  of  philosophical 
induction,  foretel  the  future  ;  were  we  able  to  descant  fa- 
miliarly on  the  remotest  regions  of  the  universe,  and,  in 
the  wantonness  of  that  power  which  knowledge  confers,  to 
yoke  the  imperial  elements  of  nature,  and  compel  them  to 
labor  for  us;  still  he  would  impress  us  with  the  fact  that 
the  science  by  which  a  defiled  heart  may  be  made  holy, 
comprises  the  sum  of  all  wisdom.  k  This/  said  he,  '  is  life 
eternal,  to  knowthee,  the  only  true  Go$,  and  Jesus  Christ 
27* 


438  THE       GREAT      TEACHER. 

whom  thou  hast  sent.'  But  he  valued  even  this  knowledge, 
only  as  it  prepared  men  for  heaven  by  regeneration; 
*  Sanctify  them  through  thy  truth,  thy  word  is  truth,' 

3.  He  foresaw  that  the  time  would  come,  when  a  splen- 
did profession  of  piety,  and  the  possession  of  superhuman 
endowments,  would  be  objects  of  envy  in  his  church.  But, 
in  order  to  correct  our  estimate  of  their  value,  he  would 
have  us  to  understand,  that  although  we  could  speak  in 
every  dialect  of  heaven  and  earth,  rob  futurity  of  its  se- 
crets, lay  open  all  mysteries,  and  grasp  all  knowledge  ; 
though  our  faith  could  enable  us  to  move  the  everlasting 
hills ;  though  we  possessed,  what  to  our  apprehension  is 
the  greatest  distinction  of  a  miraculous  nature  which  a  hu- 
man being  can  enjoy,  the  power  of  casting  out  demons,  of 
detecting  their  presence  and  commanding  them  to  depart, 
of  defying  their  power,  and  compelling  them  to  submit: 
though,  like  the  apostles,  we  could  invade  the  infernal  re- 
gion, and  add  it  to  our  Lord's  unearthly  conquest;  though 
our  benevolence  disdained  less  than  the  sacrifice  of  our 
whole  property;  and  though  our  martyr-zeal  impelled  us 
into  the  flames  ;  the  absence  of  evangelical  holiness  would 
render  the  whole  nugatory  and  useless.  *  Not  every  one 
that  saith  unto  me,  Lord,  Lord,  shall  enter  into  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  :  but  he  that  doeth  the  will  of  my  Father 
who  is  in  heaven.  Many  will  say  to  me  in  that  day.  Lord, 
Lord,  have  we  not  prophesied  in  thy  name  ?  and  in  thy 
name  have  cast  out  devils  ?  and  in  thy  name  done  many 
wonderful  works  ?  And  then  will  I  profess  unto  them,  I 
never  knew  you  :  depart  from  me,  ye  that  work  iniquity.' 
4.  Our  Lord  foresaw  that,  in  every  age  of  his  church, 
his  professed  followers,  true  to  the  bias  of  depraved  hu- 
manity, would  be  in  danger  of  substituting  the  appendages 
and  accretions  of  religion  in  the  place  of  piety  itself.  This 
pernicious  propensity  began  to  disclose  itself  under  his 


HIS      PRACTICALNESS.  439 

own  eye.  For  on  a  certain  occasion,  when  he  had  been 
delighting  his  hearers  with  an  effusion  of  heavenly  wis- 
dom, a  woman  of  the  company  lifted  up  her  voice,  and 
said,  *  Blessed  is  the  womb  that  bare  thee,  and  the  paps 
which  thou  hast  sucked.'  Now  of  all  the  conceivable 
substitutes  for  personal  piety  on  which  human  indolence 
might  seek  to  repose,  that  of  kinship  to  Christ  seems  the 
most  natural,  and  the  least  liable  to  general  abuse.  But 
he  saw  in  this  outburst  of  maternal  feeling,however  natural, 
a  principle  involved  capable  of  general  application,  and 
pregnant  with  danger ;  and,  therefore,  in  order  to  take  off 
our  attention  from  every  inferior  distinction,  and  fix  it  on 
the  true  theory  of  blessedness,  he  instantly  rejoined,  *  Yea, 
rather,  blessed  are  they  that  hear  the  word  of  God,  and 
keep  it.' 

5.  On  another  occasion,  his  mother  and  brethren,  actu- 
ally presuming  on  the  ties  of  kindred,  wished  to  interfere 
with  his  labors,  and  expected  that  he  would  show  them 
some  public  mark  of  deference.  *  But  he  answered  and 
said,  Who  is  my  mother  ?  and  who  are  my  brethren  T  thus 
plainly  intimating  that,  in  his  official  capacity,  he  knew  no 
affinity  but  that  which  originates  in  faith,  is  cemented  by 
love,  and  puts  forth  the  fruits  of  holy  obedience.  He  de- 
tected the  hydra  of  religious  formality  in  this  chrysalis  of 
natural  feeling ;  and,  therefore,  at  the  hazard  of  appear- 
ing severe  to  his  earthly  kindred,  he  cast  it  from  him,  and 
smote  it  with  the  sword  of  his  mouth.  But,  '  stretching 
forth  his  hands  towards  his  disciples,  he  said,  Behold  my 
mother,  and  my  brethren  ;  for  whosoever  shall  do  the  will 
of  my  Father  who  is  in  heaven,  the  same  is  my  brother, 
and  sister,  and  mother.' 

6.  Were  we  to  quote  every  part  of  the  practical  instruc- 
tions of  Christ,  our  citations  would  amount  to  at  least,  two- 
thirds  of  all  he  is  recorded  to  have  taught.  In  his  first 


440  THE       GREAT       TEACHER. 

discourse  on  record,  that  which  he  addressed  to  Nicode- 
mus,  he  describes  himself  as  having  kindled  a  light  in  the 
midst  of  the  world  ;  and  that  while  all  the  children  of  the 
day  delighted  to  feed  and  strengthen  their  spiritual  vision 
at  its  beams,  the  doers  of  evil,  all  the  progeny  of  darkness, 
feared  to  come  forth  from  their  dens  of  night  to  encounter 
its  rays,  lest  it  should  flash  condemnation  in  their  face. 

7.  His  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  the  most  detailed  speci- 
men of  his  preaching  we  possess,  is  practical  throughout. 
Unlike  many  a  modern  discourse,  it  is  not  merely  guarded 
and  finished  with  a  border  of  practical  application  that  it 
may  not  be  quite  unnseful,  the  material  and  texture  of  the 
whole  piece  consist  of  the  most  serviceable  and  enduring1 
principles  of  duty.  So  perfect  is  the  character  which  Je- 
sus requires  of  his  disciples,  that  the  infidel  has  pretended 
to  see  in  it  nothing  but  the  unattainable  beau-ideal  of  ro- 
mance, and  to  read  in  its  very  perfection  its  own  refuta- 
tion. He  knew  not  that  celestial  aid  is  offered  for  the  at* 
tainment:  and  reflected  not  that  to  erect  a  standard  profes- 
sing to  be  divine,  and  yet  short  of  perfection,  would  have 
been  representing  the  holy  God  as  making  a  compromise 
with  sin.  The  morality  of  Jesus  gives  no  quarter  to  vice; 
allows  not  a  moment's  truce  to  any  sinful  propensity,  Ev* 
ery  member  and  instrument  of  sin  is  to  be.  severed  and  cast 
away  with  an  unsparing  hand.  His  people  are  to  turn 
every  act  into  devotion ;  to  make  every  rneal  sacramental, 
a  token  and  pledge  of  infinite  love.  The  termination  of 
one  duty,  is  to  be  only  a  signal  for  the  commencement  of 
another  ;  their  life  is  to  be  one  continuous  act  of  obedience. 
Though,  for  the  sake  of  civil  government  and  order,  they 
may  comply  with  many  of  the  forms  which  yoke  men  to 
duty,  and  keep  them  in  allegiance  to  virtue,  they  are  yet 
to  consid  r  themselves  bound  by  superior  obligations  ;  their 
heavenly  Master  has  taken  them  to  his  cross,  and  s,worn 


HIS       PRACTICALNESS.'!'  44 1 

them  to  holiness   over  the  symbols  of  his  death;    hence- 
forth they  are  to  live  on  oath. 

8.  And  their  piety  is  to  be  diffusive  ;  bursting  the  limits 
of  their  own  life,  it  is  to  multiply  itself  in  the  lives    of 
others.     He  offers  a  premium  to  eminent  piety  by  pro- 
claiming that,  when  sinners,  aroused  by  its  active  and  un- 
sparing   aggressions    on  vice,  shall   league  and  arm  to 
destroy  it,  the  gates  of  bliss  shall  be  thrown  wide  open  to 
welcome  the  martyr-spirit  in  its  ascent  from  the  field  of  con- 
flict, and  great  shall  be  its  reward  in  heaven.     His   people 
constitute  the  salt  of  the  earth  ;  the  advent  of  his  gospel  was 
the  introduction    of   a  new  restorative  principle  into  the 
world  ;  it  arrested  the  progress  of  corruption,  renovated 
much  that  had  fallen  into  a  state,of  moral  decomposition,  ar;.l 
infused  into  it  the  permanent  vitality  and  strength  of  holiness. 
His  people  are  the  depositories  of  this  principle  ;    and  by 
their  holy  activity  they  are  not  only  to  suspend  the  tendency 
of  the  world  to  a  state  of  general  demoralization,  but  to  save 
it  for  God.     They  are  the  lights  of  the  world;  they  have 
been  kindled  to  irradiate  the  surrounding  glocift  ;  theyare 
placed  in  their  respective   orbits  to  catch  the  radiance  of 
his  throne,  and  transmit  it  to  a  world  immersed  in  the  sha- 
dow of  death.     In  order  to  sustain  their  office  with  effec^ 
he  requires  them  not  merely  to  shine,  but  to  burn,  to  be  re- 
splendent with  holiness  and  zeal. 

9.  When   an   eastern  monarch  contemplated  a  journey 
through  a  distant    part  of  his  dominions,  he    prepared  for 
the  expedition,  and  made  it  memorable,  by  sending  harbin- 
gers to  level  a  road,  and  announce  his  coming.     The  regal 
progress  of  Jesus  through  Judea  was  preceded  by  the  com- 
mand,   *  Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the  Lord,  make  his  paths 
straight.'      The    impediments   to    be   removed,    and   the 
mountains  to  be  levelled  were  moral  obstructions ;  and  by 
issuing  an  edict  for  repentance,  a  call  to  universal  reforma- 
tion, he  would  fain  have  signalized  the  epoch  of  his  mis- 


442  THE      GREAT       TEACHER. 

sion,  by  sweeping  the  land  of  its  mountainous  iniquities, 
preparing  it  for  the  free  and  unobstructed  commerce  of 
goodness,  and  fillkig  it  from  one  end  to  the  other  with  the 
paths  of  pleasantness  and  peace. 

10.  And  this  holiness  he  wills  to  be  universal.  In  re- 
quiring us  to  yield  our  supreme  affection  to  God,  and  to 
love  our  neighbor  as  ourselves,  he  was  prescribing  for 
earth  the  elements  of  celestial  felicity :  for  it  is  by  doing 
this  that  angels  are  happy,  that  heaven  is  the  region  of 
blessedness  which  it  is  ;  nor  could  its  happiness  survive 
this  duty  for  a  moment.  But  in  directing  us  to  pray,  that 
'  the  will  of  God  may  be  done  on  earth,  as  it  is  in  heaven,' 
he  would  open  before  us  the  prospect  of  unbounded  pro- 
gression and  improvement ;  he  would  inspirit  us  to  enter 
on  a  career  of  emulation  with  angels;  to  despair  of  noth- 
ing, to  hope  for  every  thing,  in  the  moral  advancement  of 
the  world  ;  to  stop  at  no  point  short  of  universal  holiness  ; 
and  to  call  in,  at  every  step,  the  almighty  agency  of  God, 
Heaven,  it  is  true,  is  in  every  divine  excellence,  immeasur- 
ably in  advice  of  earth.  Truth  is  the  food  of  the  soul ; 
and  there,  in  the  clear  revelations  of  the  eternal  mind,  the 
spirit  is  perpetually  feasted  with  fresh  discoveries  of  truth. 
Obedience  is  the  activity  and  exercise  of  the  renewed 
soul ;  and  there  it  is  its  privilege  to  serve  him  day  and 
night  in  the  noblest  acts  of  duty.  Holiness  is  the  beauty 
of  the  soul ;  and  there  it  is  robed  in  that  '  fine  linen,  white 
and  clean,  which  is  the  righteousness  of  the  saints.'  Hap* 
piness  is  the  health,  the  well-being  of  the  sanctified  spirit; 
and  there  it  imbibes  felicity,  at  will,  at  the  fountain  head. 
The  specific  employments  of  the  blessed  we  know  not; 
but  we  are  told  that  every  earthly  impediment  to  duty  is  to 
them  unknown,  and  that  in  every  act  of  obedience  they 
put  forth  all  the  mightiest  ardor  of  the  most  intense  devo- 
tion. Every  motive  to  holiness  acts- on  them  with  a  force 
to  which  earth  at  present  has  no  parallel.  So  directly 


HIS       PRACTICALNESS.  443 

does  their  happiness  flow  from  their  obedience,  that  they 
would  deplore  a  pause  in  their  duty  as  a  suspension  of 
their  bliss.  Holiness  is  always  at  its  standard  there ;  and 
happiness,  at  its  full-tide  mark. 

But  that  state  of  blessedness,  instead  of  depressing  us 
by  its  superiority,  becomes,  in  the  hands  of  the  Great 
Teacher,  a  spring  to  hope,  and  a  motive  to  imitation.  He 
knows  that,  in  every  condition  of  our  nature,  the  best  way 
to  ensure  excellence  is  to  aim  at  perfection  ;  on  this  prin- 
ciple he  renders  the  perfection  of  the  heavenly  state  sub- 
servient to  the  improvement  of  this.  Aware  of  the  capa- 
bilities of  earth,  when  pervaded  by  his  Spirit,  and  blessed 
with  his  fostering  care,  he  has  pledged  himself  fully  to  de- 
velope  its  best  properties,  even  all  its  possible  excellencies  ; 
and,  for  this  end,  he  has  raised  its  aim  to  the  highest  point, 
elevated  its  endeavors  to  the  loftiest  pitch,  by  showing  it 
the  fairest  specimens  of  created  excellence  as  seen  around 
the  throne  above.  He  has  brought  the  throne  of  God 
within  sight  of  earth,  he  has  directed  all  flesh  to  come  and 
collect  around  it :  and  that  we  may  not  ask  a  blessing  un- 
worthy of  the  greatness  of  the  occasion,  he  instructs  us 
to  request  that  we  may  rival  angels  in  the  perfection  of 
their  obedience  ;  in  order  that  we  may  not  retire  from  the 
throne  unblessed,  through  the  poverty  of  our  desires,  he 
aims  to  make  us  jealous  of  the  inhabitants  of  heaven,  and 
incites  us  to  ask  to  be  admitted  into  a  full  community  of 
excellence  and  happiness  with  them.  Yea,  more ;  by  urg- 
ing us  to  make  this  request,  he  would  fain  induce  us  to 
move  God  himself  to  jealousy,  for  the  honor  of  his  holy 
name  ;  for  what  is  it,  in  effect,  but  the  presentation  of  a 
memorial  to  the  King  of  kings,  setting  forth  that,  in  this 
distant  dependency  of  his  empire,  though  its  capabilities 
are  great,  though  it  might  be  made  to  yield  him  a  revenue 
of  glory  which  should  compete  with  the  treasured  homage 
of  heaven,  yst  his  laws  are  dishonored,  his  glory  defraud- 


444  THE       GREAT       TEACHER.       , 

ed,  and  his  will  left  undone;  what  is  it,  in  effect,  but  a  pe- 
tition founded  on  this  memorial,  that  heaven  may  not  en- 
gross to  itself  all  the  immunities  of  loyalty  and  obedience, 
but  that  earth  may  add  its  full  tribute  to  his  throne,  and  re- 
ceive its  quota  of  his  royal  regard ;  that  righteousness, 
looking  down  from  heaven,  may  behold  her  image  reflect- 
ed back  again  from  the  earth,  as  perfectly  as  its  mirrored 
in  the  chrystal  sea  which  circulates  around  the  eternal 
throne. 

O,  thou  divine  Instructor  and  Redeemer  of  mankind, 
what  tongue  can  suitably  speak  the  sublimity  of  thy  pre- 
cepts, the  vastness  of  thy  benevolent  designs  for  man,  and 
the  happiness  that  would  flow  from  the  fulfillment  of  them. 
How  "graciously  wouldst  thou  animate  us  to  heroic  aims  of 
virtue,  by  intimating  that  it  is  possible  for  us  to  equal  heav- 
en ;  how  wisely  wouldst  thou  guard  us  from  presumptu- 
ous self-reliance,  by  referring  us  to  Him  for  help  to  whom 
all  things  are  possible;  how  like  thyself  dost  thou  act  in 
saving  us  from  a  romantic  expectation  of  the  end  without 
the  means,  laying  on  us  every  necessary  command,  and 
thus  making  us  instrumental  to  the  accomplishment  of  our 
own  desires.  Would  man  but  yield  himself  up  to  thy  di- 
rections, the  hosts  of  the  blessed  should  have-to  gird  on 
their  zeal  afresh,  in  order  to  maintain  their  ancient  ascen- 
dency ;  heaven  and  earth  should  become  convertible  terms, 
and,  as  seen  from  the  height  of  thy  throne,  should  appear 
equally  active  in  thy  service,  and  radiant  with  thy  glory  ; 
O,  Holy  Spirit  of  God;  Glorifier  of  Jesus;  and  Renewer 
of  the  world ;  give  thou  the  necessary  impulse,  and  soon 
shall  it  be  transformed  into  a  paradise  again — a  paradise 
in  which  the  virtues  of  heaven  shall  be  emulated,  and  its 
divinest  pleasures  be  foretasted,  in  which  the  noblest  exer- 
cises of  a  coming  eternity  shall  be  antedated  and  rehears- 
ed, and  into  which  God  himself  shall  descend  from  heav- 
en, bringing  the  peace  and  joy  of  heaven  witfi  him. 


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